Wings of Change
by 1Thunderfire
Summary: As Kirby's getting older, he's dealing with issues of self-doubt and other negative thoughts. Matters are not helped when he undergoes the painful process of growing cape wings far earlier than usual for his species, making him feel even more out of place in Cappy Town. Meta Knight will help Kirby learn how to fly but right now, Kirby also needs a more personal kind of guidance.
1. Wings of Change: Part 1

**Hi there! Seems I'm really in the Kirby mood at the moment despite only getting into it properly a couple of months ago. I'll be in the Kirby mood until I go back to uni again which then will bring any writing to a screeching halt. Lots of work and stuff. -_-**

 **I actually started writing this one a couple of months ago, before uploading on here, in a class where I do note-taking for a student (it's a great, little part-time job, especially as I can do most of my work, and write these fanfics in the staff-room!). When individual tasks or debates/discussions are taking place, I don't need to write anything down so I thought I'd start writing most of chapters 1 and 2 on paper. My writing hand got knackered many times but I think it was worth it. :)**

* * *

 **Wings Of Change: Part 1**

It was nearing the end of the evening when Kawasaki took the last orders, concluding what had been a very profitable day.

"Just the desserts to take out and we're finished!" Kawasaki trilled. "Thanks for your help, Kirby. I think your presence always brings in more customers and of course, that fabulous cake recipe you gave me!"

Kirby smiled tiredly. "No problem." Though Kawasaki had actually improved his cooking over the years, people were more liable to come into the restaurant if Kirby was helping out, the young Star Warrior actually being quite an accomplished chef; unsurprising, when one considered his love of food.

Kawasaki piled a number of dishes into the pink puffball's hands. "Just these for table one. Oh, could you help me out a little further as well? I've got a complimentary tea set for Sir Ebrum and Lady Like for the favour they did me last week. If it's not too much trouble, could you take it over for them tonight?"

 _If it's not too much trouble._ That was the line they always used when people wanted Kirby's assistance and he often felt guilt-tripped into doing things for them. The pink puffball hadn't planned to go to the castle tonight, feeling rather exhausted, but it seemed like he had no choice.

"Sure," Kirby agreed amiably, as he always did. "I'll tell them they're from you."

The young Star Warrior, when he wasn't training, studying or undergoing missions, often helped out the people of Cappy Town when he could, most frequently at Kawasaki's now that people had had a taste of his own recipes and thus demanded his presence more. He groaned when he realised how little time he had for himself nowadays and considered refusing the next plea for assistance he got. Yet when people came to him with requests, he simply couldn't turn them down; he'd feel guilty if he did.

He went back into the dining room. There were a few Cappies still there, animatedly chatting and sipping their drinks. He headed to the table occupied by Mayor Len, Hana and their great-grandchildren and set the tray down.

"Thank you, Kirby," said Hana, putting aside her knitting. "Oh, these smell wonderful! You simply must give me the recipe at some point."

"A chef can't give away his secrets, ma'am," he replied easily.

"Oh, I'm only teasing you, dear! I know that's one of the golden rules of being a cook."

"This chocolate pudding is divine!" Len cheered. "Kawasaki's place has definitely improved since you came in." Their great grand-children (their grandchildren now grown up with kids of their own) agreed completely. "Oh, by the way, Kirby, I've heard dreadful news about some demonbeasts taking residence on the border of Dream Land and that it's quite possible they'll come here. You'll have to take them out before they hurt someone. I think they're some kind of ice monsters so you'll probably want to use fire. You better hurry or they might destroy our watermelon crop!"

"I'll need to report it to Sir Meta Knight," Kirby reminded him whilst simultaneously thinking: _please don't tell me how to do my job._

"I'm sure you should be able to take them out yourself without referring to Meta Knight," Len said. "You've been doing it long enough. But then, I suppose you're still a youngster."

"It's for our records. But Sir Meta Knight is better told this directly by the people themselves."

"Oh, records. Such a pain but they must be done I suppose," said Len knowingly. "And anyway, it's easier telling you, Kirby, because you're around more and you're much more of a people-person than Meta Knight. He isn't the most approachable, I'm sure you'll agree."

Kirby didn't bother pressing the issue. "OK. Um, was there anything else, sir?"

"No, no," Hana answered for her husband. "That's all, thank you, Kirby."

"OK. Enjoy your meal."

As he collected empty glasses from another table, he was still within earshot to hear Mayor Len say, "It's just as well we have Kirby here. Imagine if we had to do such horrible business ourselves!" He shook his head and soon enough left the restaurant carrying a large box. _You don't have to do such horrible business because I do it all for you._ He gave a wide yawn. The first thing he was going to do as soon as he got home was crash into bed and sleep until dawn.

"Hey, Kirby!"

The pink puffball turned around at the source of the voice. "Oh, hi, Chief."

Chief Bookem hurried up to him, panting slightly. "Did you hear the latest demonbeast report?"

"Yeah, Mayor Len just told me about the ones at Dream Land's border."

"No, no!" he waved his hands frantically. "The other one!"

Kirby looked dumbfounded until Cappy Town's only officer explained himself further. "I'll report this to Sir Meta Knight though it's better if people report directly to him," Kirby said not for the first time. "It's easier if he can get the relevant information straight from the source."

"Maybe, but I thought you knew about it anyway. That's your job, isn't it? Finding out about this kind of stuff?"

 _What am I, telepathic?_ "We need the public's help as well. That way, we're more efficient."

"Oh, right. Well, at any rate, it's look as if these monsters are getting out of hand. You better hurry up and beat them or we might think you're slacking on the job."

Kirby's cheeks burnt. He had been doing nothing but work for quite some time now. "Don't worry, I'm not slacking. I better get going. See you later, Chief."

 _Haven't I got enough to do?_ Kirby grumbled to himself as he made his way along the winding path to Dedede's castle and crossed the drawbridge. _I'm shattered._

Kirby greeted the Waddle Dee guards as he entered the main doors and they waved cheerily back. He liked those guys; they had always been friendly to him. He thought about perhaps heading down to the castle kitchens afterwards for a snack when he was surprised by his mentor's sudden appearance.

"Kirby, I would be grateful if you would come directly to my quarters as soon as possible. We have matters to discuss." With a swish of his cape, Meta Knight then made his way back down the corridor in Dedede's castle and soon vanished from sight.

Kirby sighed; this was turning out to be a long day indeed. He hurriedly ran upstairs to the Cabinet Minister's place and dumped the gift on the sofa before dashing back down. It would not do to keep his mentor waiting.

He very much liked Meta Knight and he certainly respected him. He had been looking out for him, guiding him and organising his training since he was an infant. Some of the townspeople were still wary of the Star Warrior though – not because they thought he was a danger or anything – they knew he had their best interests, and especially Kirby's, at heart. They knew also that Meta Knight was not an especially willing servant of King Dedede although he did undertake many diplomatic missions for the king, being the best-qualified person for the job. But Meta Knight was still in many ways an enigma. He preferred to keep himself to himself and only interacted with the locals sporadically. He did not get involved in matters unless he had to and his constant stoicism was almost unnerving to the general populace. However, he was very much a pleasant character once you got to know him and Kirby had enjoyed many a session with him in and outside of training.

But when Meta Knight said those words, a long, serious lecture was always bound to follow.

Kirby just hoped that it was not going to be 'The Talk' now he was more of age. He had heard this a few years ago when Sir Ebrum and Lady Like had lectured Tiff and Tuff on the matter. He hadn't been able to look at them for _weeks_ and people kept asking why his cheeks were burning bright red, his blush stickers more pronounced than normal.

"Thank you for coming promptly. Please lock the door and sit down."

Slightly nervous, Kirby did as he was told. He couldn't see Sword or Blade about; presumably they were out training or on a mission. Or perhaps they had been told to amuse themselves elsewhere for today. Clearly, this was going to be a private conversation.

"Kirby," said Meta Knight, his eyes glowing blue, "it barely seems like five minutes since you arrived here in Dream Land, merely an infant. You possessed fantastic potential and excellent abilities even then and you have grown exponentially. You will no doubt continue to improve as a Star Warrior in the future. I am proud of you."

Kirby's eyes would have glowed blue with pride as well if he had the same ability as Meta Knight. His eyes lit up anyway as he replied, "thank you, Meta." His mentor was seldom overtly affectionate, and so it made Kirby feel very warm inside every time that rare event did happen. But of course, his cynical side thought, he had not been asked to come here in order to be praised.

"Of course, you are no longer an infant. You have endured many trials, challenges and battles. You are maturing fast and as such, your body will go through certain changes."

Kirby squirmed uneasily in his seat. It was going to be The Talk wasn't it? This would be far more embarrassing from Meta Knight, the most stoic being there ever was! He wanted to interrupt but he knew better than that.

"I refer to the fact that one day you will grow wings."

"Wings?" Kirby repeated feeling rather relieved. "Like yours?"

"Indeed, though they will take some time before they reach the same size and strength as mine, of course." He unfurled them now with a quiet rustle and fluid movement to demonstrate this fact.

Kirby had seen Meta Knight's retractable wings a few times which was more than anyone else had: Sword and Blade had only seen their master's wings twice and on both occasions they were only used because they had been caught in an incredibly dangerous situation. None of Dream Land's other citizens knew of their existence at all, not even Tiff, who had become a confidant of sorts over the years.

The wings appeared bat-like with three, thick membranes running down each wing to a jagged end. The top of the middle membranes possessed a curved claw although what their purpose was Kirby wasn't too sure. The exterior was shaded deep purple while the interior appeared pale pink, indicating the thin skin. Though delicate to the touch, the membrane's tissue was able to regrow, repairing small tears very quickly.

When Kirby had been given permission to touch his mentor's wings on a previous occasion, he had been surprised by their warm, leathery feel and how thin yet flexible and strong they were. Each wing was made from a higher collection of bones than most birds and, coupled with their thinness, allowed Meta Knight to fly with more lift and less drag, and also with a greater accuracy than said birds. The minute receptors on his wings, covered with tiny hairs, allowed for even greater sensitivity concerning air movement so that he could adjust his wings in response in order for more efficient flight.

The powerful lungs possessed by Kirby and Meta Knight's species also significantly helped their ability to fly, being able to take in large amounts of oxygen in order to sustain what was a physically-demanding and taxing activity. As such, the wings held a large and highly-complex structure of blood vessels to ensure the best possible distribution of oxygen throughout.

What was most curious about these wings, however, was that in their dormant shape, they changed into the form of a cape. What everyone simply took to be Meta Knight's cape, believing it to be a part of his formal uniform, were actually his wings lying inactive. No wonder he was never seen without the cape then.

Even better, when in closed form, the cape, or the Dimensional Cape as Meta Knight had once called it, granted limited teleportation abilities. By wrapping the cape tightly against oneself, one could warp a short distance away for a quick escape or to catch an assailant off-guard for a surprise attack. Likewise, the cape allowed the bearer to ebb out of reality for a few seconds before reappearing, again, to deliver an unexpected attack from behind. Truly their species possessed a wonderful and almost frightening range of powers. Kirby remembered the first time he bore witness to this mentor's wings several years ago:

* * *

 _Meta Knight and Kirby finished another one of their training sessions. Today's focus had been on the Wing Ability and improving upon the various moves the ability granted Kirby such as Dive Bomb which generated shockwaves when he landed upon an opponent headfirst. Meta Knight had insisted he practice that one over and over again until he had perfected it. His mentor was not one to make any training session easy._

 _Panting with exhaustion, Kirby removed his elaborate feather headdress and feathery wings before flopping down next to a tree. He felt somewhat dizzy, having crashed into the ground numerous times whilst struggling with using Dive Bomb. He gratefully accepted the apple that his mentor threw him knowing that today had been especially intense._

" _I have no issues with your ability to air dodge," Meta Knight remarked, walking over to his student, "though we have had plenty of opportunities to practise that. You seem to be making good progress in using the Shuttle Loop though you need to remember not to flap about too wildly as you are doing so. Your speed has also considerably improved in this form. I believe you have extended your maximum speed from 17mph to 25mph even whilst using the Feather Gun. But of course, you must be able to fly even faster when you are chasing speedy demonbeasts and I know you are capable of it."_

 _Kirby groaned. "Not right now, right?" His head was aching. He was always being pushed to his limits and sometimes even beyond them. It was a little much at times. He swallowed the apple in one but he knew that wasn't enough to fill him up. "My Wing Ability isn't the easiest one to use."_

" _Practice makes perfect, Kirby. It will become natural to you in due time beyond the sudden realisation that you can use such moves when you gain an ability." He referred to the sudden understanding Kirby's mind gained when he possessed a new ability, knowing instinctively what he could do without ever being able to use such moves before._

" _How do you know about this stuff anyway, Meta Knight?" he challenged. "It's not as if I've ever seen you fly."_

" _I am observant," his mentor said, his mask hiding a slight smirk._

" _Oh, come on! No-one's that observant! How are you supposed to teach someone else to use these moves if you've never used them yourself? You can't get that from observation alone. You can only do that properly if you've used them yourself."_

" _Hmm. You may be right." He spread his cape out carefully, letting it flutter in the wind. "What would you say if I suddenly took to the skies now?"_

" _Er, that I probably wouldn't be surprised because you're always hiding a lot of stuff?"_

" _An acceptable answer."_

 _Before Kirby's eyes, he saw Meta Knight's cape fluidly transform into a pair of bat-like wings. He spread them out fully, much for the effect upon his student as it was for catching the air. With a single leap, Meta Knight took off and soared into the sky at a tremendous speed. He glided for the most part, only beating his strong wings occasionally. He spun through the air and performed a series of Shuttle Loops, now plainly showing off. He unsheathed Galaxia in mid-flight and let the sun catch his blade so that it shimmered brightly, a veritable beacon._

 _When he landed, Kirby was open-mouthed._

" _I thought you said you wouldn't be surprised," Meta Knight smirked. He always loved being able to amaze his student._

" _You just did all that!" Kirby gasped, practically squeeing. "Like it was nothing! That's so cool! I wanna do that!"_

" _That's what practice is for. And one day, you'll have wings like mine without the express need for a Copy Ability. Your Copy Ability will serve you well for the time being but even when you gain wings, it will still be useful for providing extra power or when your normal wings are grown exhausted." Meta Knight's wings then reverted back into the form of a cape, a cape that Kirby had always seen permanently attached to his mentor's back._

 _Kirby looked confused. "Has anyone else seen your wings? You always have them like a cape. How they even do that anyway?"_

" _Sword and Blade are aware of my wings though that was out of necessity. Neither would have survived the fall if I did not fly," he said, referring to a past mission. "As for how they transform between these two states, it is referred to among our species as 'reversible metamorphosis' although do not ask me to explain the concept in its entirety; I am not a biologist. By the way, Kirby, you are the first person outside of the GSA I have revealed my wings intentionally to."_

 _Kirby felt honoured, believing this to be a good sign of their close relationship. He couldn't help but wonder though why his mentor had never revealed his wings before. Meta Knight answered:_

" _These wings are similar to what you might find on particular kinds of demonbeasts and in places where they have seen much violence from such monsters, to have such wings is to practically be a demonbeast yourself. On other planets, Star Warriors with similar wings to mine have been treated with suspicion and have even been assaulted by certain species because of them. In many cultures, they have been seen as symbolic of monsters and of evil. While some may have revised their opinion on this, the older attitude may prevail still in many areas._

" _When I first arrived here, I thought it best to keep my wings hidden in case it unnecessarily alarmed the locals even if I was sure that such wings were not a kind of taboo in their culture. It may not be such a problem now as we do not see so many monsters. It may be that the people are perfectly comfortable with the idea since I have lived so long amongst them and do not represent a threat, but I have always preferred to err on the side of caution. Besides, I thought it best that the less King Dedede knew about me, the better."_

 _King Dedede. Meta Knight did not need to say anything more._

" _I would appreciate it if you kept quiet about this," his mentor continued. "Like I say, it may not be such a problem now but if they are to be revealed, I would rather do so on my own terms. I have hidden them so long that the idea of my showing them off to the world feels a peculiar one indeed."_

" _Of course," Kirby promised. He would never break Meta Knight's confidence. "Uhh, would you be able to show me some more flying some time though?"_

" _Certainly. It will help you out and besides, it does feel good being able to fly properly for once."_

" _How good?"_

 _Meta Knight let out a breath of satisfaction. "Exhilarating."_

* * *

Meta Knight had then shown Kirby his ability to teleport, manipulating space to do so. His mentor never ceased to amaze him. He hoped to be as accomplished as Meta Knight someday, particularly as at times, he felt as if he could never be quite as good. Meta Knight commanded respect and always appeared effortlessly sophisticated no matter where he went. Kirby, in comparison, was more often than not underestimated and overlooked while he went on Star Warrior missions despite his impressive skillset and backlog, presumably because he appeared child-like still and was far younger than anyone else undergoing similar missions. He also felt awkward and clumsy, contrasting against his elegant and refined mentor. All because he was getting older.

He had been having a lot of doubts about himself recently but he couldn't quite pinpoint exactly _why_. He wondered at times if he was good enough to be a true Star Warrior despite the things he had already accomplished. His vast range of powers at least helped him in his role as a Star Warrior mind, and Meta Knight always encouraged Kirby to improve himself.

The pink puffball then remembered something important.

"But Meta," Kirby prompted, "I thought it took years until our species grew wings. You said you didn't get your wings until you were 80 or something." The pair's respective species lived a long time and so matured at a slower rate. While 80 years might have been considered middle-aged by some species, but usually very old for many others, Meta Knight was considered unusually young for his wings to start growing even though wings were meant to be the last stage of maturation in their species, long after they were considered old enough to pursue romantic relationships.

"Well-remembered, Kirby," his mentor acknowledged. "But I mention this now because you have been forced to develop your powers much earlier than normal because of Nightmare Enterprises and other dark entities, and you have needed to keep up your training in order to retain that power and skill. You have been placed in highly dangerous and life-threatening situations countless times and have thus been required to fight back and defend yourself. Because of this, your mind is forever expecting to be on guard from attack and may try to accelerate various areas of growth so you may better protect yourself. As your wings are excellent in the role of combat, this would be the most likely area to develop first, at a much younger age than usual."

"Huh? You think I'm going to grow wings any day now even though I shouldn't yet?" Kirby confirmed. Hell, his voice hadn't even broken yet and it wasn't going to do so for a very long time. He had only grown an inch or so since his arrival in Dream Land and otherwise displayed no other signs of aging which occasionally led to him still being treated like a small child. Kirby was too polite to say how much this irritated him.

It would be very difficult to place exactly how old Kirby was but, as he was certainly an infant when he crash-landed into Cappy Town, it was decided by common consensus that in Dream Land's terms, Kirby was now more or less 16 years old. 16 years plus at any rate.

"Possibly. I could be mistaken, although I wish for you to be informed about this in due time. You would lose the ability to float; an inconvenience at first I know," he added with a slight smile at Kirby's horrified expression, "but you would considerably gain in aerial combat abilities, not to mention speed and strength, especially when you do not or cannot have access to the Warp Star."

Kirby tried to imagine himself soaring through the sky with wings like Meta Knight. Perhaps it would be fun. And Meta Knight would certainly teach him how to use his wings properly.

"However," Meta Knight said quietly, "there is a certain… painful element to this process of growth."

Kirby grimaced. There was always a downside. "How bad?" he had to ask.

Meta Knight looked a little… uncomfortable which was, to Kirby, a worrying notion. Meta Knight must have realised this as he recovered himself and said, "it can be very painful as your wings start growing at a far quicker rate than other species, usually in the course of one day, but sometimes two, and that causes considerable stress and strain on the body. It is not so surprising when you think that the body is being asked to grow something so complex in such a short space of time. Some have found the pain to be very overwhelming indeed, even with pain relief which I'm afraid has little effect during this process. Generally, the younger you are, the more painful it can be, owing to the greater stress. It is the price we pay for our power."

Kirby sighed heavily. If that was the case, then he wasn't looking forward to it at all. High power like his inevitably demanded high prices. That power made him completely different from everyone else and sometimes, Kirby felt very much out of place in Cappy Town. Matters were not helped by the fact that his early-developed powers meant he had missed out on much of his childhood as he was forced to fight those intent on killing him.

Wings would make him stand out even more from the crowd.

"Your training will help you with this," his mentor continued calmly. "And I, of course, will guide you through the process. If you feel a prickling sensation in your back, where your wings would sprout," he indicated the exact spot, "and then a feverish, burning sensation, come see me immediately, or, if you cannot do that, at least call for me. You will know when it happens."

Kirby nodded. His mentor had been through this before; he would make sure he was alright. It might well not happen for years yet anyway. He tried not to worry about it.

"And now," Meta Knight concluded, "I feel it is my duty, because you are of age now, to inform you of other matters in life namely, er, adult relationships." His eyes shone quite pink.

Kirby turned red and desperately wished for a monster to suddenly attack them. And he hadn't even given his reports yet.


	2. Wings of Change: Part 2

**Wings Of Change: Part 2**

It had been nearly a year since that discussion and right now, Kirby was relaxing on the warm grass under the pleasant late afternoon sun. He yawned widely and let the conversation wash over him, listening vaguely to Tiff and Tuff. It was great seeing his friends again after they'd been away for so long doing their jobs. At times, he wished they were all young children again and didn't need to think of anything more than what games to play and what Dedede was up to. Of course, Dedede was trying to kill or humiliate him most of the time but most of his attempts were laughable and they did at least provide good training for the young Star Warrior.

Kirby selected another roll from the picnic spread and chewed thoughtfully. Oddly enough, he didn't seem to have his usual appetite. He hoped he wasn't coming down with something; he had felt out of sorts all day. Maybe it was down to that poisonous demonbeast he had fought only the day before; there were certainly more monsters about again. Perhaps it would be a good idea to go to bed early tonight.

He didn't really take part in the on-going conversation; there wasn't much he could contribute anyway. They were talking about love, relationships and weddings. It drove the point home to Kirby that while everyone had the chance to fall in and out of love and become intimate with someone, Kirby did not. Kirby simply didn't have the opportunity to engage with this kind of behaviour and while a lack of other members of his own species was not necessarily a barrier (as Meta Knight had informed him with unusual embarrassment), Kirby felt too uncomfortable with the idea of searching elsewhere. It would probably be seen as weird anyway. He was feeling increasingly left out and lonely with an ever-growing distance between himself and everyone else.

"I think it's so romantic that Honey and Spikehead are finally getting married," Tiff sighed longingly.

"Haven't you found a beau yet, dear?" Sir Ebrum enquired. "I'm sure there must be plenty of candidates!"

"Dad!" Tiff exclaimed as her brother sniggered. "I'm not even looking for anyone yet!"

"I bet Kine's still interested if you go and ask him," Tuff grinned.

"You know, if I do have a wedding, I won't be letting you go anywhere near it!" Tiff retorted hotly.

"We'd be invited to it though, wouldn't we?" Iroo asked.

"Of course. All of you would."

"I'd gate-crash the wedding and still give my best man's speech though," Tuff couldn't resist.

 _It would be quite spectacular,_ Kirby thought. Sir Ebrum and Lady Like would make sure of that – no expense would be spared for their offspring. It would be as grand as their own wedding. Although Kirby couldn't help but think that he would have to stop the wedding from being wrecked by a monster Dedede ordered or something. Then again, he couldn't order monsters now; the teleporter had long been deactivated. Still, knowing Dedede, he'd probably try and wreck it just for laughs. Admittedly though, Dedede wasn't as bad as he used to be. Still, he made a mental note to have his Warp Star with him for that happy event just in case.

There was an annoying prickling feeling on Kirby's back, slowly spreading outwards. He assumed it was a heat rash and ignored it.

"Oh, it still seems so strange to see you children all grown up!" Lady Like gushed. "My little darlings!"

"It does seem rather like yesterday since we saw you all toddling about in your baby clothes," Sir Ebrum opined. "Oh, the amount of washing we had to do when you had mushed-up food and all sorts on yourself! That does make me feel rather old now."

"Do you really have to embarrass us, Dad?" Tuff muttered as Honey giggled.

"Of course, son!" Sir Ebrum laughed. "That's one of the things parents simply must do! It's our way of getting back at you after years of bringing you up and having to put up with all sorts of troubles."

"That's what Mother always says," Spikehead agreed.

 _At least Meta doesn't embarrass me too much,_ Kirby thought, his mentor being the closest thing he had to a parent and father figure. _It could be a lot worse. But I suppose everyone else can remind me of the embarrassing things I've done anyway._ That time when Kirby threw himself into the candyfloss machine was a popular topic to remind him about. And, of course, the word 'poyo' would never be forgotten; it was practically legendary. He still had that wrote to him in his birthday cards; they remembered it as being adorable it seemed.

Kirby shifted uncomfortably; the prickling was getting worse, almost feeling like sharp needles. He suppressed a wince. Now it was beginning to burn quite badly yet despite his sudden heat, he felt shaky, almost cold. He felt really sick. Maybe he needed to see Doctor Yabui.

The young Star Warrior suddenly bolted upright. He knew what it was. He had to go. He didn't want his friends to see what was happening to him. He didn't want to spoil the happy occasion by alarming them in such a manner. He hoped he was mistaken.

"I've gotta get going!" he suddenly announced, trying not to show his increasing discomfort. "I've got a meeting with Meta Knight!"

"Huh? Now?" Tiff questioned. "What's it about?"

"Private stuff," Kirby mumbled.

"You haven't eaten as much as much as usual—" Fololo began.

"—Are you feeling OK?" Falala finished.

"Y-yeah," Kirby stammered, not feeling alright at all. He wished he hadn't eaten that last sandwich. "Sorry I've gotta leave like this; it kinda slipped my mind and I don't want to be late."

"He's working you too hard," Tiff said indignantly, knowing of Kirby's frequent training sessions and academic studies. "It isn't healthy."

It was becoming extremely painful now. Kirby took a sharp breath. "I know," he gasped. "I'll ask about it. See you all later!" Kirby then took off before he could be delayed any further.

 _Like that wasn't suspicious,_ Kirby berated himself. He was sure they'd ask what the matter was. But he was supposed to keep quiet about his wings if he could absolutely help it, at least until he was used to them.

 _This is way too early!_ the pink puffball panicked as he forced himself forwards. _This shouldn't be for years! I'm not ready for this yet! Why is it happening now?_

Kirby trembled and tried not to cry out loud as he took painful steps towards the castle. He felt his head spinning and his heart beating faster. He swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise up. He was a Star Warrior for goodness sake! He could deal with this!

The pain in his back burned like an intense fire. Kirby let out a yelp before he could even think about preventing it.

"Hey, Kirby, what was that?"

Through watering eyes, Kirby realised that Cappy Town's oldest resident and postie, Melman, who had just finished his last round, was staring right at him.

"You don't look so good," the ancient Cappy said. "You should see Yabui."

"Seeing Meta Knight," the pink puffball moaned. He fought to keep his dinner down. He thought being battered by monsters was bad enough but this was terrible!

He left Melman behind and dragged himself up hill, in too much pain to run. Each step was more arduous than the last. His entire being was in agony; he didn't know if he could continue. The points on his back where his wings would grow were white-hot with pain.

Finally, upon reaching the drawbridge, Kirby couldn't continue. He clutched his body, crying with pain, his vision blurred. A fragment of his mind unhelpfully noted that if a monster was to try and attack him at this point, he would be utterly screwed. He didn't even take much notice when he was picked up and hurried into the depths of the castle.

"We just found him like this on our patrol, sir," Kirby barely heard Sword saying. He and Blade struggled to hold onto the young Star Warrior wildly thrashing about, unable to control himself.

"Get him on the bed and hold him down," Meta Knight instantly ordered, "otherwise he might injure himself." He immediately headed towards the cupboard and searched for a poultice. "His wings are coming through. Be prepared for a long night everyone."

Kirby screamed like he was being murdered and violently threw himself this way and that, making Sword and Blade's job very difficult.

"It's a bit early for this isn't it?" Blade remarked. Both knights had been informed upon the subject of Kirby possibly gaining wings ahead of time since it was thought very likely that their assistance would be required during the event. "I thought it weren't gonna be for a long time."

"His battles have caused his wings to mature prematurely," Meta Knight explained. He placed the cooling poultice on the parts he knew would be the most agonising. "Though it just so happens that Kirby is also an early developer. He is already a seasoned warrior so his wings were always going to develop earlier than most of our species. I had hoped it would be later, Kirby, but it wasn't to be."

"Poor feller," Sword sympathised.

 _"Hurts so much…"_ Kirby moaned.

"I know," Meta Knight soothed. Kirby was going to be in for a rough time; the nubs hadn't even appeared yet. He would know when it happened. "I remember punching someone when it happened to me, quite hard if I recall correctly. They said they would allow it that once as they had to be very nice to me on that occasion." He remembered it like it was yesterday; it was one of the very few occasions in which he voluntarily allowed his precious mask to be removed by someone other than himself. "And then I kicked one in a rather delicate area but since I didn't like him anyway, I thought it was perfectly alright."

Kirby wanted to laugh but he started coughing badly instead. His mentor swiftly grabbed a bowl and not a moment too soon as Kirby threw up. Meta Knight calmly cleaned his protégé and gave him plenty of water to drink. He also gave Kirby a large, concentrated tablet to swallow and instructed his knaves to be ready in case Kirby was sick again. Meanwhile, he busied himself in preparing a soothing balm, waiting for when the first part of Kirby's wings would appear.

Even he winced when that moment came. Kirby screamed again, hurting his throat, and almost completely heaved Sword and Blade off him, forcing them to press down harder. The wing nubs had burst through. Meta Knight wiped away the hot blood. His eyes glowed with worry. His own experience had been far less demanding compared to this so far.

"How long will this take, sir?" Blade queried. The knights' arms were already feeling tired.

"At least 24 hours if not more," Meta Knight answered. "The first few hours are obviously the hardest. I can only hope it will be quick."

Kirby whimpered. His heart hammered loudly. He had never known such _pain._

Meta Knight sat before Kirby and bade the young Star Warrior to focus on him. "Remember your training, Kirby," he murmured, his eyes shining golden. He aimed to keep as much eye contact with his student as possible, yellow gazing into blue. "Recite how the grading of monsters is decided."

Kirby shakily began with fire monsters and how their grading depended upon range and strength of flame, answering along the way a series of questions from his mentor. Hot Heads, for example, were only a grade one, as they produced minimal flame either as a flurry if a person was within range or a small fireball if they were at a distance. Flame Galboros DX however, were a grade five as they could shoot fireballs and lava bubbles as well as constantly trying to crush their opponent. The pink puffball gripped the bed underneath him and shuddered badly with the effort to control himself.

"Well done, Kirby," Meta Knight said gently, after the young Star Warrior went through a number of fire monsters. "At least when this is over, you won't need to endure it again."

"How about some more pain relief?" Blade suggested. "Surely that would help."

"For some reason, it has very little effect during this stage among our species," Meta Knight admitted, "and I administered some rather strong medicine in the hope that it would work even a little. I think it probable that the process of growing wings also blocks our ability to resist pain so that they may develop properly. If he was older, it would be less arduous. As is it, I can at least try and distract Kirby from the ordeal."

"Electric m-monsters," Kirby gasped. "Sp-Sparky, a g-grade one."

"Why is it a grade one?" Meta Knight questioned.

"S-small. S-small circular range of b-bolts. N-not really threatening."

"Good. Continue with this for a while longer."

Meta Knight checked Kirby's growth; it was only about five centimetres long. It was clear Kirby was struggling; he was much too young for this. Perhaps it would be better if he could place him under a kind of meditative trance. He had long employed meditation as a means of self-regulating the mind and performed it almost every night.

Meditation as a practice served to train the mind to become familiar with beneficial states of thought including: patience, compassion, concentration, perseverance and more. It was also an excellent method for inducing deep relaxation and preserving energy which made it an attractive discipline for those, like Kirby and Meta Knight, who regularly fought nightmarish beings. He considered it a highly important skill for all warriors to learn; a method in which to ease the mental battle scars that could easily plague the mind and soul. He made sure to perform this in order to reduce the likelihood of suffering nightmares as much as possible.

He had introduced Kirby to the concept a couple of years ago when he deemed him ready to have sufficient patience for it. Also, as Meta Knight had in his younger days, Kirby was having his sleep disturbed by nightmares, a consequence of his often ferocious battles and a common affliction of Star Warriors. He was only surprised that Kirby had managed to avoid such bad dreams for so long.

While he had constantly fidgeted about at first, finding himself bored and often distracted by thoughts of food and an itchy feeling he had never noticed otherwise, Kirby eventually found his personal path of tranquillity partially through imagining butterflies at the beginning of each session. He soon found it a welcome opportunity to rest after their often brutal and energetic sparring matches even though he had been laughed at by Tuff and Tokkori, calling him some kind of hippy.

Meta Knight motioned for Sword and Blade to ease up on Kirby and prepared himself.

"META KNIGHT! META KNIGHT! WHERE ARE YA? YOU OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

Meta Knight's eyes flashed with annoyance. Of all the distractions, they needed this one the least.

"The king's got a job for you, you lazy lout!" they heard Escargoon declare. "He needs your help immediately!"

Kirby cried out loud, his focus disturbed.

"Hey, is that lil' pink puffball with ya? What's he doin' there?"

Meta Knight thought quickly. He obviously could not let them enter the room, not with Kirby the way he was. Yet sadly, they knew Meta Knight was in there so Dedede and Escargoon could not be ignored.

"Sword, Blade, whatever it is the king wants, deal with it quickly then return here. Do not let them enter this room as you leave. Tell them I am busy training Kirby and if Dedede objects, remind him of the many monsters Kirby has vanquished."

"Yes, sir!"

Sword and Blade sprang up and grabbed their weapons. They left their lord's quarters and swiftly locked the door behind them in case King Dedede barged in. Meta Knight could quite easily hear his liege's objections.

"Sir Meta Knight has requested that we should deal with the matter instead," Sword stated. "He and Kirby are busy doing some very special training and are not to be disturbed."

"Request de-de-denied!" his Majesty yelled. "What could be more important than dealin' with my problem?"

"Come on, sire," Escargoon said wearily. "If we don't stop that monster from rampaging about, it might get into your treasure trove. And we know how important that is to you."

"MA TREASURE!" Dedede cried. "You two! Get up there this instance! I can't be a poor king; I'd be a laughin' stock!"

"I'm sure you're already one, sire," his long-suffering lackey muttered as the group dashed away.

 _More monsters. What is the king's problem?_ Meta Knight groaned. He doubted that they were simply wandering, random demonbeasts no matter what half-baked excuses Dedede tried to assure him with. These were surely coming from a new source but where exactly Meta Knight did not know. Nightmare Enterprises had been dissolved long ago though he could not rule out the possibility of it somehow having revived again.

Kirby began thrashing about again as soon as the pressure was lifted. He held himself as if it would make everything alright. Tears ran down his face. It broke Meta Knight's heart. As his mentor, it was not usually advised to become emotionally attached to the student but he had been training him for so long and watching him grow up, that he could not help those feelings, and he believed that their relationship was all the stronger for it, especially knowing that he had Kirby's respect and admiration. With that in mind, he couldn't bear seeing his young charge like this.

Meta Knight held Kirby firmly, helping him sit upright, and looked directly into his shining eyes.

"Kirby, I want you to relax," he spoke quietly. "I want you to imagine your pain disappearing. I want you to calm down and take deep breaths. Deeper. Remember when I said that a good practitioner should be able to do this anywhere?" He hadn't meant something this extreme of course, but the principle still stood. "I want you to clear your mind. Focus on the star within yourself. Let all your other thoughts go. In and out. In and out. That's it." Kirby's body continued to shudder but he tried to follow his mentor. His eyes seemed to glow more brightly. It was soothing. His mentor was always calm; Kirby endeavoured to be calm too.

"Butterflies," he mumbled.

"Butterflies," Meta Knight repeated, knowing exactly what Kirby meant.

The young Star Warrior felt his mentor touch his still-developing wings lightly for they were very sensitive. They felt strange, almost alien, an odd presence that would take a long time to get used to. They quivered badly as they continued to grow. He could barely move them and when he tried, he sent a spasm of pain running through his body.

"Don't move them until they are fully grown and healed," his mentor advised. "Now, I shall do this alongside you. I will hold you for a little while longer until you are ready. Let us relax…"

By the time Sword and Blade came back, they were quite relieved to find that Kirby was no longer screaming, just occasionally whimpering and breathing heavily. His eyes closed, he continued to recite monster grading in between deep breaths, though his words sounded somewhat dull and monotonous. They then realised what the pair were doing and exchanged knowing glances. Neither had any particular desire for the discipline despite their lord's endorsement of it though they knew it was something Kirby and Meta Knight undertook regularly.

"I trust you got the job done?" Meta Knight asked, not even opening his eyes.

"Yes, sir," Sword responded. "It was a bit of a struggle but we got there in the end."

"Didn't help with the king running about and squealing though," Blade complained.

"Good work, men," Meta Knight approved. "Hopefully there won't be any more monsters tonight."

"How is he?" Sword enquired, wandering over to the young Star Warrior. His wings had developed a little more though they were still quite small.

"He is coping well," Meta Knight answered, not entirely able to keep the mixture of worry and pride out of his voice. He examined the teen. His heart, though slowed down from earlier, was still racing and Meta Knight knew he wouldn't stay in his trance-like state for long, not if his wings suddenly experienced a surge in growth, and especially when they knitted themselves to transform into a cape. "Get some rest while you can," he added for the benefit of all.

Sword and Blade sat down and cleaned their weapons, knowing it was very unlikely they would get any shuteye when Kirby could be in agony again at any moment. Meta Knight made his knaves coffee and a hot chocolate for Kirby who needed the energy. Kirby managed to swallow the sweet drink but as much as he wanted to, he couldn't eat anything, feeling nauseous at the very thought.

For a long time, Kirby's new wings grew very slowly to the point that the young Star Warrior was able to distract himself with reading a favourite book. They stretched further from his body now and Meta Knight felt assured that they would be of the same type as his own. He wondered if it would be a good idea to try and convince Kirby to go to sleep. Then the surge happened.

"META! METAAAAAAAAAAA!"

As Meta Knight held Kirby tightly, he felt him burning up, his skin literally red-hot to the touch even through Meta Knight's gloves. He felt Kirby grip him hard and shuddering so badly he was practically vibrating, trying and failing to hold back his cries. Then, at that moment, they all heard a series of loud knocks; it did not sound like King Dedede or Escargoon again. When they did not respond, the knocking continued even louder. "We know you're in there!" a voice shouted. "Open up!" Sword and Blade looked uncertain.

"Let them in," Meta Knight grunted. "They can help."

Tiff and Tuff ran in as soon as the door was opened and gasped with shock upon the scene. Never had they heard Kirby sound so hurt, so agonised before.

"Get me some cold water and towels," Meta Knight commanded before they even had chance to speak, unable and unwilling to extract Kirby off himself.

They wasted no time in obeying and soon returned carrying as much possible. Meta Knight soaked the towels and pressed them against Kirby, taking care not to do so too firmly against his highly-sensitive wings, and wiped away fresh blood.

"Meta Knight," Tiff quavered. "What's going on? What's happening to Kirby?"

"No wonder he was acting weird today," Tuff whispered. "We heard from Melman he was looking ill. Kirby barely ate anything today and didn't really talk much either."

Tiff approached her friend cautiously and looked closely at his quivering appendages. "Are they… wings?"

Meta Knight would not have said this otherwise but if anybody had earned his trust, it was these two. "Let me explain."

In between moments of surges, which commanded their full attention, Meta Knight told the pair what he himself had explained to Kirby on a previous occasion. As he spoke, he remained attentive to his student.

"We wouldn't have been bothered by the fact that you or Kirby have wings," Tiff said. "I mean, yours look really striking, Meta Knight; they really suit you," now that the Star Warrior had his purple wings on display, giving him yet another enigmatic air.

"I apologise to you both—"

"Oh, there's no need for that!"

"—But some habits are hard to break and caution has always been my watchword."

"Don't worry, we understand," Tuff assured him. They knew that Meta Knight had good reasons for his secrets; they were quite used to his guarded nature. He hadn't even shown them his face without the mask in all this time; that privilege belonged to Kirby alone. "I'd be careful too where Dedede's concerned. Still, it must be cool being able to fly."

"I have not flown for a while but yes, it is, as you say, cool, to be able to fly."

"Is that how you always seemed to find us or catch up with us so quickly over the years?" Tiff marvelled.

Meta Knight chuckled. "At last the secret's out."

"Hear that, Kirby? No wonder Meta Knight always seemed to be one step behind us!" Tuff cajoled the young Star Warrior.

"Y-yeah…"

"You'll get through this, Kirby," Tiff said consolingly, sitting beside him. "You always do get through things, no matter how hard they are. You're a strong person."

Kirby's eyes blinked with overwhelming tiredness. "Thanks…"

 _He looks so vulnerable like this,_ Tiff thought sadly and again when Kirby's wings started to shoot outwards faster than she would have believed possible. A series of cracking noises could be heard as the cells expanded rapidly. Even with additional medicine, it was still a hard process to endure. Once or twice, Kirby was overwhelmed by the powerful sensations which then resulted in him being sick again.

The skin on Kirby's pulsating wings still looked very thin and they could see blood throbbing through the new veins. Even as they watched though, the muscles and skin gradually thickened until they could no longer see the vessels beneath. It was grossly fascinating.

"How is it they can turn into a cape?" Tuff wondered. He had to hold himself back from touching Kirby's wings; not only were they extremely delicate at the moment but even in normal circumstances, Meta Knight said it was gross misconduct for a person to touch the wings without express permission. "I always wondered why you never took yours off."

"I believe it protects our wings while not in use primarily," the old Star Warrior detailed, "and as a cape, it protects us from the elements. There is also less weight and drag in cape form which is better for when we are simply going about our day-to-day business and not flying. It may also be used for… courting purposes."

"What, like, it shows how stylish you are or something?" Tuff asked, ignoring Tiff's attempts to hush him up. "Do you flourish it in a dance or something like on TV or to make yourself look better than a rival? Do males and females get cape wings? Do you use your wings when you're _really_ close to someone and you wanna make—?"

"To answer your questions," Meta Knight interrupted hurriedly, "yes, both sexes gain cape wings." He wished he hadn't mentioned that last point. "It is, how shall we say it, a similar procedure to how you may dress up smartly and present flowers to someone you love." He looked away from Tuff and checked his protégé, hiding his pink eyes. He had been reminded of his first disastrous courtship attempt. Tripping over your own cape never made a good impression. "As to how they can transform between wings and a cape, let us just chalk that down to the miracles of nature shall we?"

Tiff looked at Kirby. The idea of him courting made her feel rather… strange.

Kirby experienced another surge. He saw everyone crowd him but this time, he couldn't handle the pain and consequently blacked out.


	3. Wings of Change: Part 3

**Thanks for the reviews so far! This hasn't been the easiest story to write but I have and will persevere! Because we need more Kirby stories, yo. :D**

* * *

 **Wings Of Change: Part 3**

It had been a full day before Kirby came round fully which, as Meta Knight said, was probably for the best. He felt stiff, aching, exhausted and most of all, hungry and thirsty. His back was also still throbbing although this had now finally resided to a dull twinge. He gazed about the room and saw his mentor seemingly resting, his eyes dull yellow, still occupying the chair before Kirby. The others must have returned to their own beds at some point. He gingerly turned to look at himself. What he saw and felt was a cape.

 _This is so weird,_ Kirby thought. This felt completely different to a copy transformation. For one, this was permanent. _It's just like Meta's._ _And this… it's not even clothing really, it's a part of me._ He suddenly wondered if there was a mirror about; he wanted to see himself fully.

He delicately lifted himself upright, wincing even with the slight movement. _Oh, Nova, why did it have to hurt so much_? He felt quite glad that he had eventually fainted. _I'll never complain about being set on fire by monsters again._ With painstaking movements, he eased himself off the bed and slowly walked one step at a time to the full-length mirror that hung from the back wall, used by Meta Knight when making sure he was especially formal for a special occasion.

 _Whoa._ Kirby turned around and saw how his cape was seamlessly attached to him. A white collar jutted out from the top of the cape giving it that extra flair. _Not too bad. At least I'll always be dressed well. Wow..._ He then pulled his cape around his body in the same manner as Meta Knight did most of the time. _This is how I look mysterious, my friends_ , he thought in an imitation of Meta Knight's voice. _Do not touch the cape for the sake of your lives. Or the mask or you will perish. Now, I will stand on this high ledge like I always do and look impossibly cool with my cape wrapped round me at all times. Did I mention that I look mysterious and cool?_ He gave an amused grin. Meta Knight really did have a bad habit of trying to get the advantage of height over others no matter how much he denied it.

He looked at himself this way and that, still surprised. _I wonder if Meta felt like this?_ At least Meta Knight had been of a more acceptable age when his transformation occurred. _I suppose it wasn't quite as big a shock._ His amazement faded a little and became mixed with a little anxiety. _This wasn't supposed to happen for years though. It was so unexpected._ Then again, everything that Kirby did he had done earlier than usual. _That won't mean anything bad will it? People won't think I'm weird will I? But then they probably won't see my wings._ _Unless I have to fight something in town I suppose._

He then also realised that he would not be able to float freely anymore. _I liked doing that. I probably didn't even do it as much as I could have done._ One of his greatest pleasures was floating to the castle roof and watching the sunset on a warm day and sometimes staying up there to view the stars. He had always felt a great connection to the stars. Technically, he could have used his Warp Star to achieve the same thing but it felt a little... demeaning somehow to use his brilliant Warp Star, an item that had saved his life so many times, for such a mundane purpose when he used it to great skill in his many battles. _I guess I can fly up there when I know how to use my wings. It should be OK. I guess this whole thing still seems a bit strange to me. I'll get used to it. It'll be cool. OK, let's look at the wings._

 _Erm, how do I reveal my wings?_

"Admiring yourself, are you?"

Alarmed, Kirby spun around and grimaced at the quick movement. Meta Knight strode over to him and placed a hand on his student's forehead, checking his condition. His temperature was normal again.

"That was one of the first things I wanted to do when I received my wings. I think we are all like that to begin with. What pride we take in ourselves, hmm?" He removed his mask, an action he very rarely performed outside of retiring to bed, and they stood side by side in front of the mirror. Meta Knight only ever revealed his true face in front of Kirby, another sign of the trust he shared with his student. "Similar aren't we?"

Kirby smiled at the image. "Yeah."

If anyone could see them now, they would have sworn they were father and son. Their faces resembled each other's greatly though where Kirby's eyes were deep blue, Meta Knight's, without his mask, were misty white and glowed faintly. Both had pink cheeks although Kirby's were far more pronounced. Also, Kirby did not have long arms like Meta Knight although whether that was an age or genetic issue he wasn't entirely sure. In front of the mirror, their capes had the same cut and gold trimming though they differed in length and colour. Kirby's cape was shaded dark pink, almost bordering on red, and revealed remarkable traces of an intricate, criss-cross leaf pattern. Meta Knight's wings then slowly emerged to their full size.

"Just imagine your cape changing into wing form and it will happen," he instructed. "It will become natural soon enough."

Kirby followed Meta Knight's directions and was rewarded in seeing his wings gently unfurl with a quiet swish. He was unable to raise them up as high as Meta Knight at the moment and he was advised not to try. But still, he could see more or less what they looked like and to his pleasure, saw the elaborate pattern etched upon their backs whilst Meta Knight's was more or less plain, although his own did lack Meta Knight's hooks.

"Wow," he breathed. "They look great. I really like them." He wasn't what you would call vain but right now, he could happily look at his wings all day. "The pattern kinda reminds me of a butterfly."

"You and your butterflies," said Meta Knight fondly, knowing Kirby's odd fascination with the creatures. "Mind you, some of our species have been known to have butterfly-shaped wings. Others have feather wings instead which can be helpful when dealing with off-planet inhabitants; they tend to be looked on more kindly."

"People won't mind around here, would they?" Kirby said, troubled.

"I shouldn't think so though I'm sure they'll ask why you've suddenly started wearing a cape. But I would like you to get used to your wings first before you show them off to everyone, if you so wish to. Your wings are still very much delicate at this stage and you don't want to injure them, especially considering what you went through."

Kirby suddenly felt humiliated that his friends had witnessed that and blushed a little. "Uhh, how long was I out for?"

"Nearly a full day. You woke up briefly a couple of times, especially when the cape was beginning to form, and then you fainted again when it became too much. Don't concern yourself too much with it," he comforted his student, seeing how self-conscious he looked. "You could hardly have reacted any other way. Besides, you've been through worse things."

Maybe, but the young Star Warrior couldn't help but feel mortified that his friends had seen him as vulnerable as that. "I guess so. So when will I get to fly, Meta Knight?" Kirby asked as his mentor retracted his wings and recovered his mask.

"We'll give it a week at a minimum so we know that you're fully healed by that point," he replied. "Then I'll teach you as much as possible. But for now, I think our more pressing concern is breakfast don't you?"

"Yeah!" Kirby eagerly agreed. "I'm absolutely _starving!_ "

His mentor's eyes flashed with amusement. "What a surprise. But then, you have been through quite the ordeal."

Reminding Kirby not to rush in regards to his current condition, both left the quarters with Kirby's cape fluttering freely while Meta Knight had his wrapped around him as usual. He had to remind himself not to open his wings again considering that they ached even with the short amount of time they were opened for. While most of Kirby's mind was preoccupied with food, he thought of something important.

"Meta, if I show my wings to everyone else, won't they realise that you have wings as well?"

"Perhaps they will," his mentor acknowledged, "though if it comes to that, I should not mind too much nowadays. It ought to be better than the last time I showed my wings."

"Why? What happened?"

"We had a reconnaissance mission on Rock Star as part of an on-going investigation into the influence of Nightmare Enterprises amongst the high class and what demonbeasts he had managed to send there. Sir Arthur, a few other Star Warriors and myself were taking part in a conference in the northern deserts about the extent of the demonbeast problem which many flatly denied, especially the Gabon chief. As we were obviously a threat to some of the nobles and their livelihoods there, they attempted to assassinate us and a number of Shotzos suddenly emerged. We were being blasted and as a small Gabon troop entered the building, I felt I had no choice but to take to the air and free myself from the tumult lest I should have no room to fight.

"Some believed I was a demonbeast agent because I looked demon-like and that our presence was only a trick to somehow usher in more demonbeasts which were at that point causing problems in the provincial towns. A cannonball also struck me and if not for the intervention of the Kacti delegate, we would have been arrested for apparent deception if not outright stabbed by the Gabon. Of course, it did not help that a few of our Star Warriors had weapons on them when we ought to have left them by the door to show our good intentions. Yes, they were wary about the people we were dealing with but not relinquishing our weapons only made matters worse. We were forced to take refuge in the resident Kabu and I was then reprimanded for not having revealed them sooner to my team."

"But that isn't fair," Kirby objected. "They're only wings. What's so bad about them?"

"Ah, Kirby, there is more to it than that," his mentor sighed. Kirby could hear the sorrow in his voice. "Our species has, for many centuries, been a source of fear for other races. I suppose I cannot blame them: we have a vast array of powers that some can only dream of, we can fly, we live for a very long time, we have voracious appetites that can take years to control, and we possess a pocket universe in our stomachs. How many creatures have that? We have been seen as too proud because of our skills even though most do not develop the full possible range. We are, in simple terms, seen by many as being unnatural."

"But we can't help that," the teen protested. "It just… is. We didn't ask for it."

"I agree, but that doesn't stop some people from thinking otherwise. Of course, that doesn't mean our species has not had its faults. Our species have historically looked down on other races as being inferior because they do not have our range of powers. We have at times abused said powers. That is not to say that every individual thinks the same way, of course. But overall, I doubt any race or species is completely innocent of this.

"Prejudice is prevalent not only through this galaxy, Kirby, but likely throughout the whole universe because we fear or despise that which is different from us. Unless we all experience a supremely powerful collective source of enlightenment, that isn't going to change any time soon."

"So…" said Kirby slowly, trying to understand, "that's why you've always kept your wings hidden? Because you feared the same kind of reaction?"

"More or less," Meta Knight confirmed. "But in Dream Land, it may not be so bad. I think people here are not so much malicious as misguided most of the time. Hopefully you'll be fine, my friend."

Kirby deliberated over his mentor's words.

"Yeah," he said. "I mean, Tiff and Tuff thought our wings looked cool. If you showed them in town, people shouldn't be too fussed. Surprised, I guess, but not really fussed. They know us after all. It's only Dedede who'd kick up a fuss but he keeps trying to provoke me anyway. I wish he wouldn't keep doing that though," he sighed. "It's kinda annoying and to be honest, I'm sick of it."

Call him over-cautious, call him too suspecting, he wanted to believe they were enlightened but an element of him could not prescribe to this. He just did not want Kirby to experience the same reaction as he had. "Mmm. I hope you are right. I might be thinking the worst of people. But for the present being," said Meta Knight, aware that they had been loitering in the hallway for quite some time, "I thought you were hungry?"

As if on cue, Kirby's stomach rumbled loudly. "Yeah," he mumbled with embarrassment. Funny, he never used to let the sound bother him before. He didn't seem to feel as easy-going as he used to be. "Let's get something already."

As they made their way towards the kitchens, Kirby wished, not for the first time, that he could be more like his mentor who seemed to know everything that he needed to know. He really did feel inadequate at times when compared with Meta Knight, the ever-enduring and wise Star Warrior, even though Meta Knight had assured him before of his worth and potential.

One day, he hoped that he could be just as good as his idol. But for now, at least, he could learn to soar through the sky alongside his mentor with his freshly-grown wings, climbing higher and maturing ever more.

* * *

Over two weeks had passed and Kirby was eager to learn how to fly, hoping that it wouldn't be too difficult to pick up. He knew that Meta Knight had already picked out a suitable location for them away from prying eyes. Kirby was rather glad of this; he didn't think he'd perform well if he had people watching and critiquing his skill. Not that they knew about his wings but still. Anyhow, this also meant he would be out of Dedede's way.

When Kirby had been wandering the castle a couple of days ago, he had nearly bumped into King Dedede who had been up to, well, whatever he had been up to. The penguin-like monarch critically eyed him over.

"See you still have the audacity to hang round my castle, huh?"

"There's no law against it," Kirby retorted, getting the usual greeting ritual out of the way.

"Pretty sure I made one 'cos I'm the king round here; you jus' keep on ignorin' it an' my royal status, boy. Hey, what's with that fancy cape anyhow? Never seen you wear that before."

"Uhh," Kirby hesitated. "It's a Star Warrior thing; you know, the people who keep the galaxy safe from marauding demonbeasts who try to either destroy everything in sight, kill you in brutal ways or—"

"Alright! Alright! I get it!"

"—Or possess you and use you as a puppet," Kirby finished. King Dedede had an odd and unfortunate habit of being possessed by the monster of the week. Also, despite it being a long time ago, Kirby had never quite forgiven King Dedede for unleashing the infamous Demon Frog that had temporarily possessed him.

"I liked you better when you were so dumb you couldn't speak," Dedede grumbled.

"I liked you better when you were so dumb you still kept ordering monsters that cost you a fortune and were liable to kill you. Oh, wait, don't you still do that?"

"Nightmare Enterprises don't exist anymore so I can hardly buy stuff off them," Dedede said dismissively. True enough, the monster delivery system had been deactivated for years. But while the king may have turned over a new leaf and was friendlier to Kirby nowadays, he couldn't rule out the king buying monsters from a new source, some new dark matter. He was small-minded and greedy like that. All these monsters were not simply appearing from the blue. "Now I don't see why you're startin' to wear that cape all of a sudden. You tryin' to upstage my magnificence?"

"Magnificence?" Kirby sniggered.

"Or are you tryin' to intimidate that there Meta Knight?"

" _Imitate_ not _intimidate_."

"Aha! So you are tryin' to imitate Meta Knight! You think he's cool or somethin'? Or since there ain't anyone else like you in Dream Land an' you ain't got no family, you gotta act like that cold knight of mine? You tryin' to make him your daddy or somethin'?" The thought amused the king very much. "You're a daddy's boy ain'tcha?"

Kirby flinched; this type of conversation stung him very much. It reminded him that his origins were an unsolvable mystery to him and on Popstar, the only other member of his species was the old Star Warrior. Sometimes Dedede didn't realise how cutting this was for Kirby. Or maybe he did and didn't really care. "Meta Knight isn't cold," he blurted. "He's not like that at all. And he's my mentor, not… my father." _But I wish he was._

"You are a daddy's boy!" Dedede chuckled. "You can't deny it! But I guess that don't make no difference to me since you ain't leavin' any time soon. It would be pretty borin' around here if ya did. Anyway, that there cape sure looks fine an' dandy. I wanna try it!"

"Forget it. It isn't coming off." _Quite literally._

"Aw, come on!"

"Get your own!"

Kirby leapt to one side with ease as Dedede lunged forwards, cape buffeting the air. He was afraid that Dedede would somehow activate his wings if he did manage to grab him, not to mention that it would probably hurt.

"Huh? I'm sure I saw somethin'…" Dedede mumbled, staring at Kirby. The latter hid his nervousness. He hoped that he hadn't accidentally changed forms in that split-second or Dedede would probably want to try stealing his wings next. And then call him a freak. Not for the first time either.

"What? You're seeing things," Kirby bluffed. "Anyway, I've got a job to do; some of us are kinda busy you know. See you later, Triple D."

Truth was, Kirby had been hanging around the castle more lately rather than going into town as he was finding the sudden attention a little overwhelming. Earlier in his life, he wouldn't have cared about that at all; he might not have realised the attention he was receiving in the first place. But at the moment, he just felt awkward and somewhat out of place, completely different to anyone else in his home town even though he had been living there for years now. He felt that he wanted to be left alone for a while and not be bombarded with questions, queries and requests. He also reckoned that they were prying into his business and that they never really understood him.

In other words, he was being a typical teenager.

He also felt that his status as a Star Warrior was often taken advantage of and that people were so used to his exploits they no longer really appreciated that when Kirby was fighting monsters, he was, you know, risking life and limb, and being severely hurt and battered when the going got tough and the tough really got going. That was important too.

"My, what an astonishing cape!" Mayor Len professed when Kirby had first ventured into town after his change to pick up some items from Tuggle's. "Wherever did you get it from?" And soon enough, because whatever Kirby did rarely passed the citizens' attentions, being the most interesting individual in town, everyone was suddenly around him.

"Uhh, Sir Meta Knight gave it me," he lied sheepishly. "He said I was ready for it and—YOW!"

"Now, now," Len reprimanded one of his great grand-children who had just yanked at Kirby's cape for the fun of it, almost pulling him to the ground. Kirby's back was still sore at this point and the tug was _hard._ "You know that's not a very nice thing to do. Say sorry."

"Sowwy."

"That's better. Hmm, how is that cape being held up anyway? I can't see it pinned or being attached to something else."

"Uhh…"

"I wanna twy it!" another one of his great grand-children cried out.

"Well, if it was anybody else, I'd say it would be too big for you but you're actually a little bit taller than Kirby now!" Len laughed. "Still a cute, small thing, eh?" Kirby gave a half-hearted smile; the blasé discussion of his lack of height had been starting to annoy him in recent times. "Why don't you let the child wear it for a while?"

Now Kirby was feeling nervous. "Uh, I can't really take it off," he said, wishing he had a better excuse. Mayor Len gave a hearty chuckle.

"Hohoho! You mean that Meta Knight has told you to wear it at all times? I'm sure he won't mind if you take it off for a little while. You must be feeling rather warm with it on now anyway." Indeed, the hot sun was shining overhead being another pleasant summer's day. "Don't be mean."

"I'm not. What I mean is…" Kirby began as he fumbled for a reason.

It was probably fortunate in a way for Kirby to be interrupted by more people coming over, finding this latest development very interesting, especially as fuel for gossip. If Cappy Town traded in anything apart from watermelons and sheep's wool, it was gossip.

"Hey, Kirby, that looks neat," Kawasaki complemented him, having left his restaurant for a quick break. "Do you think you'll bring in even more customers to my restaurant if you advertise it by looking sophisticated? It would help its image!"

"Oh, I wish I had some material like that in my shop," Mabel opined, "it looks very mystical. May I ask where was it purchased from?"

"Oh, Mabel, if I could find it, I'd purchase some for you!" Samo promised.

"Ooh! Could I borrow your cape afterwards?" Buttercup asked. "The grandkids wanted a fantasy-looking design for a project they're doing and I think this would be perfect! I promise I won't cut into it or anything."

The idea made Kirby cringe. While having his wings in cape form meant they wouldn't suffer pain the same even if they did got torn or whatever, Kirby wasn't taking any chances while he was still getting used to them.

"I wanna twy it!" the small child whined above the general conversation the adults were now having as they became side-tracked by matters such as cape designs and so forth; a common trait of Cappy Town.

"Kirby, just let the kid borrow it a for a while."

"Oh, yes, Kirby," Curio called out. "I've got a little job for you. If you could just—"

"I'm in a hurry!" Kirby shouted as he quickly took his leave. "I can't keep Sir Meta Knight waiting! I'll come back later!" He then dashed to Tuggle's to pick up the required items before taking the long route back to Dedede's castle, making sure to avoid everyone else on the way.

Throughout the week, Kirby was pestered to undertake some more requests, people apparently equating the cape with even more responsibility. Kirby managed to do things far more easily than they did so why not come to him for aid?

"I'm sorry," he apologised one time. How did they keep finding more things for him to do? "But I really can't. I'm busy."

He cringed as Gengu's face fell. "But Kirby," he pleaded, "it'll only be a couple of hours while I sort out my deliveries and accounts. If I don't get them toys in, there's gonna be a lot of sad kids and you don't want to make the kids sad."

Kirby relented. Restocking shelves and watching the shop probably wouldn't be too much of a pain. He might even be able to get some shuteye in that time which, considering how tired he was still feeling after his ordeal, would be more than welcome indeed. "Fine. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"That's great," Gengu said in relief. "I promise it will only be about two hours." It was actually three.

The teen couldn't find it in his heart to say no to most things even though he was supposed to be resting and recovering; it was becoming a serious problem. He was pretty sure Meta Knight wouldn't let that happen to himself. He ended up crashing into his bed each night completely wiped out.

He decided afterwards to remain in Meta Knight's quarters, revising the basics of astro-mechanics, an important subject for constructing and maintaining starships, and otherwise took it easy in order to allow his wings to heal as fast as possible. At least here he could let his fine wings stretch out in private and in peace.

Meta Knight had not commented on his more frequent presence at the castle and only advised Kirby to properly rest himself. He decided to delay the introductory session for a little while longer.

Now came the day for his first flight.

Feeling excited but mainly nervous, he met up with his mentor at a hidden spot deep inside Whispy Woods and felt strangely paranoid that he was being watched. Meta Knight had suggested that it would be best if their first flying session involved just the two of them, not even Tiff and Tuff. The delay meant they had missed out in any case since they had their own work to do and were away again. It was a shame really, especially as Kirby would have benefitted well from their support. They had always supported him no matter what.

"Are you feeling alright, Kirby?" Meta Knight queried as soon as the pink puffball had arrived.

"Huh? Uh, yeah," he said lamely, the question having caught him off-guard.

Meta Knight was sure there was more to it than that but he didn't press the issue. He instead unfurled his wings to their full glory.

"Very well. Let us begin."


	4. Wings of Change: Part 4

**Having been watching the Kirby anime again (I love it!), I note that the Cappies can be quite mean, even nasty, to Kirby at times in certain episodes such as Un-Reality TV, The Pillow Case and definitely Cappy Down Town, the latter which forms part of the reason for Kirby's feelings in this chapter. Also King Dedede has managed to trick the Cappies on numerous occasions making Kirby look like a bad guy. You'd think they'd have learnt by now, huh?**

* * *

 **Wings Of Change: Part 4**

High above the clouds, a shadowy sphere blacker than midnight emerged into existence from an unknown dimension. Its blood-red eye scanned the environment, watching for the source of its disturbance. The essences of two figures of light had broken its rest as it drifted silently through space. This light would drown the darkness, blind those existed in the shadows and shatter the eternal blackness. What _pain_ that burning light would cause! A threat to its ever-enduring survival! An existence without the embrace of darkness was not one to contemplate. Such light would have to be snuffed out.

The shade moved slowly while it detected the presence of the earthbound stars and attempted to focus closer upon the location. The stars shone brightly and could be viewed far above by one who could sense the essence of such things, even hidden deep as they were, forming their hearts. Truly their power was immense. One such star was countless of years old, its strength honed by a lifetime's worth of experience. The other was very young in comparison though it was fuelled by outstanding potential and it constantly strove to forge that into true skill. A new power had also awakened in it very recently and as such, it sensed that the star, the figure of light, needed time to adjust to it.

What it needed was a figure to work through, one who was weak of mind and easily manipulated. If possible, a harboured fascination with monsters would prove to be a splendid addition to the cause. And indeed, it could quite easily detect the frequent and congested essence of monsters here. Dream Land was a veritable breeding ground for nightmarish monsters.

What about that castle ahead?

* * *

Meta Knight had explained to him the principles of taking-off. It was the most energetically demanding aspect of flight as one needed to generate enough airflow across the wings to create lift. As a beginner, Kirby would need to take a run up in order to generate that airflow. Once more accomplished, he would learn to take off from a standing position as Meta Knight did. When truly advanced, he could then learn hovering in which one generated lift by flapping alone but it required a great deal of energy. That would not be covered for a long time.

Meta Knight touched down lightly as he demonstrated his abilities to Kirby once more, showing him the correct procedure again. Kirby was desperate to take to the skies like his mentor but so far, he wasn't having success in staying up there.

"You do realise this will not be like having your Wing Ability where the copy power did much of the work for you," Meta Knight had warned. "This will be performed with your own wings, your own energy." Flapping one's arms with the Wing Ability was not a difficult exercise; anyone could do that. Trying to make wings on your back flap was rather more difficult. Kirby hadn't realised exactly how much work this was going to involve until he tried flying like Meta Knight for the first time.

It had been a shambles.

Kirby tripped up three times and otherwise fluffed his take-off in different ways by jumping up only to fall back down due to not having his wings in the right position. Once he managed to get up in the air at all, he wobbled precariously like an aeroplane undergoing turbulence and forgot to streamline himself. He lost his balance in the air and suddenly dropped like a stone.

"Change your wings into a cape before you crash!" Meta Knight yelled, before Kirby could damage them. The pink puffball desperately tried to remember how to do this, not having tried it in mid-air before, and, still with his wings at full stretch, collided against the terrain with a heavy thud.

"When I said about folding your wings inwards slightly upon the up-stroke to reduce the amount of energy needed, I did mean slightly, not the whole way," Meta Knight lectured. "It is a common error."

" _Ow, my head…"_

"You are not injured. Pick yourself up and try again."

Without hesitation despite his crash, the young Star Warrior scrambled upright and launched himself into the air a second time. He stayed up for a little longer this time only for the same result to occur except that he slammed into the treetops rather than the ground. Fortunately they were not in Whispy Woods itself otherwise he would have got a serious telling-off from a talking tree just now. At least gliding had proven easier when he was taken to a suitable height and promptly, to his surprise, shoved off it, Meta Knight believing in a practical approach to these matters. It didn't require thrust and he only stumbled a little when landing.

Once, Kirby had tried inflating his body to reach the same heights as his mentor rather than soaring but try as he might, he couldn't seem to trap the air and lift himself off the ground this way. The winged structure changed his body significantly. Mother Nature would allow one or the other, not both. With a sudden overwhelming feeling of sadness, Kirby realised exactly what he had lost.

"You feel sad that you can no longer float into the sky, don't you?" Meta Knight stated. Kirby snapped to attention realising he'd been daydreaming. How did Meta Knight know what he was thinking? Then again, Meta Knight knew most things about Kirby; he was an open book to the old Star Warrior.

"I… yeah. Seems silly really. I mean, flying's gotta be better, not to mention being able to warp as well."

"I was the same," Meta Knight admitted, "even though I had much more time with it than you've had. I suspect it was because everyone else was later than me and I had to begin the process of flight sooner. As they say, you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

"Yeah…"

"However, it does no good dwelling on the past," Meta Knight said in a matter-of-fact tone. "We move on into the future. Now, we shall leave that for the time being and take a look at warping." Kirby smiled. He had been waiting eagerly for this one.

He wanted to show Meta Knight that he could do this as much as he could with their other sessions. Although there were times when he plainly did not feel up to the demands considering how much Meta Knight expected from him, Kirby liked his sessions with Meta Knight overall. There was something about being able to focus upon a new move to the distraction of everything else, away from prying eyes. Meta Knight never belittled him. He understood Kirby intricately. That was because he was so much like himself.

Meta Knight could not help but remember his first time flying. Though he was much older than Kirby at the time, he had been much younger than everyone else upon gaining wings and thus found a number of people giving him tips and all sorts bombarding him with information. They had, of course, proven helpful in the end although he had proudly insisted he could accomplish this by himself and was determined to receive no assistance. He was going to be a Star Warrior after all! He had to swallow both his pride and words when he plummeted onto a rooftop and knocked several chimneys off. Everyone had laughed at him, especially when he had knocked off a tin of magenta paint as well, splattering himself. Those were the days…

He wrapped his cape around his body tightly and almost without thinking, phased out of sight and reappeared several feet away.

"I saw a shimmer!" Kirby cried out excitedly.

Pleased, Meta Knight replied, "I'm surprised. You must have been observing closely. It is usually unseen by the naked eye."

The process of warping involved focussing one's energy into transferring every particle of themselves across the boundaries of space not physically but mentally. It was difficult keeping the warping stable at first as a beginner practitioner often physically catapulted themselves through the air completely exposed to the elements, not to mention the strong disorientation often experienced. Also, to then immediately be able to move and strike after reappearance required great mental discipline that many lacked, especially if they were not warriors. But Meta Knight had faith that Kirby would not struggle as much as most; he had touched upon the process before with his Ninja Ability.

He gazed at his student, so eager to please, and felt, not for the first time, a warm tenderness towards him. He had witnessed Kirby's many milestones from his learning new Copy Abilities to speaking coherently for the first time and to defeating many terrible and vicious monsters despite his young age. He continued to organise his training, yes, for there would be no shortage of evil to be vanquished, but now he had another priority and that was Kirby's well-being.

Though the teen had remained tight-lipped, he knew there was something not quite right. Maybe it was the way he held himself, maybe it was in his eyes, but over the last few months, Kirby had changed. He could put it down to maturation, making him develop a more reserved and quiet character but his intuition told him otherwise. He wasn't sure if Kirby would appreciate his prying, adolescence not exactly an area that he was well-versed in, but if this state of affairs continued, then he would indeed have to pry. The trouble was how he could go about that exactly. Children, he reflected, were much easier to deal with than this awkward point between childhood and adulthood.

He was distracted from his thoughts when, after attempting to warp, Kirby made a wrong turn in spatial dimensions, turned rather green and promptly lost his lunch.

* * *

Kirby wearily walked home after finishing today's session, feeling bruised and sore all over. He was disheartened by his inability to pick the art up straight away and ruefully noted that his Copy Abilities had led him to believe he could pick up non-copy abilities straight away as well. He was also mortified by his reaction to warping, even if this apparently happened to most first-timers. He felt queasy still. He had been sick twice. Even worse, he then heard yelling in the distance.

Trying to ignore his stomach churning, Kirby raced towards town and was alarmed to see a monster had landed directly in the main square; they were getting far too confident these days. This one was pretty large too, with orange, bat wings, a cat-like face and a body consisting of a raging fireball. For a monster though, it was really rather cute. It was appropriately named Batafire.

"Don't just stand there, Kirby!" one of the terrified locals squealed. "Take it out!"

 _What do you think I'm going to do?_ Kirby grumbled. _Have tea with it?_

Batafire sent a barrage of burning fireballs blasting Kirby's way forcing the pink puffball to quickly evade them. One surged directly into Kirby and he yelled, feeling a sudden intense heat envelop his body. Another caught the edge of his cape and he yelped having to put it out. He didn't get time to check the damage as the squeaking monster dive-bombed at Kirby almost burning and crushing him at the same time.

 _I need something to douse those flames._ He then spotted the fountain that had been installed only a couple of weeks back to 'beautify' the town. Batafire swooped down on him again making Kirby decide on the spot to try out the dimensional warp again, hoping that the intense nature of battling would bring out his skills like they usually did. He pulled his cape close and concentrated on a point near to the fountain. He momentarily gasped, feeling nauseous with his vision blurred, time seemingly slowing down as he phased through a distance of space greater than that he was used to when using the Ninja Ability. Batafire missed him by inches and slammed into the pavement, breaking it upon contact, understandably stunned. Kirby, having overshot, splashed into the cold water and spluttered heavily.

 _Hey, not perfect, but I least I managed it more or less! Meta will be happy about that!_ Kirby bobbed up, feeling very pleased with himself. He hadn't even felt very sick this time! He hoped the others had noticed his new move. Nevertheless, he didn't let his pride distract him from his duty. He quickly slurped up the amount of water necessary to allow him to transform into Water Kirby, feeling the tiara with its whirling watery vortex settle upon his head. Energised, he shot a strong pulse of water at the flaming Batafire causing it to squeak even more high-pitched.

"Ah! Don't fly that way!" he called out as Batafire, now dizzy, wavered drunkenly in mid-air and made a couple of rooftops catch fire. _Damn. Why can't they use better building materials?_ "Hey! Over here!" He shot another pulse of water to regain its attention.

Batafire responded with several, fast-moving fireballs. The pink puffball countered them by sending a powerful column of water straight up. Adrenaline pumping, he charged towards the fiery monster and executed Rainbow Rain, projecting a sphere of water whirling around his body and concluding with a rainbow flourish. He was highly delighted with how beautiful the move looked; another method of turning his frequent battles into an art form.

Kirby warped again when the enraged monster struck once more and reappeared several feet away, only staggering a little. He felt euphoric; he bet that everyone wished they had a cape like his! Perhaps the next time he battled, he could use his wings though Meta Knight wanted to take him through several lessons on flight combat before he attempted it for real otherwise it could do him more harm than good. He unleashed Rainbow Rain one more time just as Batafire zoomed towards him and completely doused the monster whole.

Having taken enough punishment, the monster then exploded, leaving not a trace of itself behind. A crying shame really; Kirby felt that this monster, if fed and treated with respect, could have become quite friendly.

"Hey, did you see what I did?" Kirby asked excitedly. "Did you see me teleport like that? I—"

"You should have got here sooner!" a Cappy fumed. "Look at the damage it did!"

Kirby noticed that a few other buildings had been set alight as the fireballs that missed him struck elsewhere. _Whoops. I suppose that wasn't totally unexpected._

"Uhh, sorry. I'll put them out." The young Star Warrior blasted jets of water onto each blaze until they were completely extinguished. Smoke rose a little but the damage was not too severe. "There we go; you might just have to replace a few tiles. Anyway, did you notice me—?"

"Where were you?" the Cappy interrupted. A few other Cappies stood there wearing similar disapproving faces. "Things could have got really heated here!"

"I was training elsewhere. Anyway, did you see my—?"

"You could have put your training to good use here," the Cappy grumbled. "Now we're gonna have to pay and get it fixed."

"Petition Dedede," Kirby said, now getting annoyed. "Look, I want to know if—"

"Petitioning Dedede's no good," Gengu moaned, who had had to rush outside when his shop was attacked. "You should have been here guarding us. Those demonbeasts can be pretty nasty, especially when they're after you personally."

"I can't be here all the time," the teen muttered, his euphoria drained away. "Besides, Batafire was just wandering about; it didn't want me personally otherwise it probably would have said something. That one wasn't too bad; it looked pretty cute really. I mean," he thought with sudden inspiration, wanting to check something out, "it looked kinda fluffy and cute and it had nice wings. You wouldn't think it was a monster with wings like that would you?"

"What are you talking about?" Gengu scoffed, looking at Kirby with a strange expression. "If it has wings like that, it's more likely than not to be a demonbeast. I don't know why but that's the way it goes. You've fought enough of them to know that, Kirby."

"But... what if it was good?"

"I don't know. It would seem pretty suspicious to me. Might be a demonbeast that's not properly disguised itself!"

The young Star Warrior flinched. "Do you really think that?" Kirby mumbled.

"Huh? Of course I do. I'm pretty sure everyone else thinks like that as well. It must be true when you've seen them used in books and films so many times. Nothing good comes out of them demonbeasts and the winged ones are the worst since you can't even fight them at ground level. Not that we fight them of course but still. Hey, wasn't there something you were gonna say before?"

"… No, it doesn't matter. I'm sorry that I couldn't get here earlier."

"You could have led it away from town or something," the other Cappy said, not willing to let go of a grudge.

"I'm sorry; it's not always easy to do. I won't disturb you any longer. See you later…"

With a heavy heart, Kirby wandered through town, ignoring the smells of evening cooking. He spoke to people who questioned him about the latest monster attack and asked the same question only to get very similar responses. To Kirby, it was clear that he would be seen as something even more unnatural than he already was. He sadly thought what Meta Knight had said about his own experiences and resolved to keep his wings hidden from sight. They wouldn't understand. It wouldn't be the first time he was accused of being something he was not.

"Hey, Kirby," Kawasaki called out from his restaurant when he saw the young Star Warrior passing slowly by with his head down. "I made too much stew. Do you fancy some? You must be hungry!"

"No thanks, Kawasaki," Kirby mumbled. "I'm not that hungry really."

The young Star Warrior left the surprised chef behind and went straight home.

* * *

 _Upon seeing the mob carrying the obligatory mob weaponry i.e. torches and pitchforks (where did they even get them from anyway?), Kirby found himself rooted to the spot despite his very best attempts to move. To his alarm, he found that his wings were still unfurled but no matter what he tried, they steadfastly refused to return to cape form. Rather, they only spread out even further as if in preparation for battle. Blood pumped strongly throughout his wings; he felt them tense along with his other muscles. Was he going to have to fight for his life or something?_

 _He was surrounded by the mob, their faces looking eerily sinister when flickering between the shadows and light cast by the burning flames. The kindly faces that he knew and saw on a near day-to-day basis were now contorted with hatred. What the devil had they brought to their town and allowed to live in their town for so many years?_

" _Demonbeast!"_

" _I'm not a demonbeast!" Kirby cried. "I fight demonbeasts! How can I be a demonbeast?"_

" _Demonbeast! Look at yourself!"_

 _Not knowing what else to do, Kirby called out for his Warp Star, the mythical object that had been a part of him since birth and represented his connection to the stars. While a person could touch his Warp Star, no one else could ride it without him; the Warp Star just would not accept that. While Tiff had been the one to call for it in his early years, he was now able to summon it himself once he had been able to form the words. It would come flying straight from Kabu and help him. His bright star would swoop down in the darkness and lift him to safety._

Please come, please come…

 _His heart thudded louder as painful seconds passed._ Where are you? Please help me…

" _No Warp Star. A demonbeast cannot control a Warp Star."_

" _I'm not a demonbeast!" he insisted._ Please come, please come…

" _Then what are you? Where did you come from? Where is your star?"_

" _I'm a Star Warrior! That's who I am!"_

" _Where did you come from? Where is your star?"_

" _I… I…"_

 _He came from outer space from an unknown destination. He came alone with no idea of his birth. He came not knowing where he should go, drifting only through endless space. He came only with a starship and a miniature star, connected to his heroic heart pulsing with the power of the stars: he was Kirby of the Stars._

 _But now his star was gone. A part of him was lost. There was one less star in the shining skies. He felt it as a physical blow directly against his heart, missing that elemental piece of himself. It pained him more than words could say. He had lost his stellar guide._

 _Where was his other stellar guide? Why was he not here? He cast a frantic gaze around the dark landscape, past those terrible faces, hoping to settle upon that constant symbol of endurance and tenacity. Had they got him too? Or was he never there to begin with?_

 _You said you wanted to be stronger did you not? He also wants to you to be stronger doesn't he? You want to be stronger without guidance, without help. You want to stand on your own two feet. Your wings tell you that you are an adult, no longer a child; why would you receive them otherwise? You want to be as good as your mentor and must stand these trials alone. Well, little Kirby, did you not get what you wished for?_

" _The demonbeast must be destroyed!"_

 _He had no choice but to take to the air. But as the circle tightened around him, he could not do a running start._ But I must escape! I can't fight them!

 _Focussing as much energy into his wings as possible, Kirby emulated his mentor and kicked off the ground, gasping as he worked against gravity, beating powerfully against the wind, into his natural element away from those restricted to the ground. They waved their weapons madly, torches burning intensely, to the one whom they called a hero only when it suited them, only when they were not so blindingly and obviously deceived._

 _Heat coursed through his veins before bursting into flames around his wings. The fire incinerated the air around him, creating a furnace and before his very eyes, his wings began to blacken and burn. Pain as hot and intense as the fire itself surged through his body, searing skin, cracking bone, boiling blood. Yet he must fly! Flapping his wings harder, he must fly! Even as the smoke grew thicker, even as all other sensations were blocked out other than the intensity of his agony, he needed to soar ever higher. He needed to prove that he was a Star Warrior, that he could do this, and that he was worthy enough to whoever deemed him so._

 _Fly… fly…_

 _Without friend, without star, without hope, the lone Star Warrior felt something break in him and knew that all was lost. He tumbled out of the sky and saw the ground rush towards him…_

* * *

Kirby jolted upright with a yell and panted vigorously. His bedsheets were soaked with sweat and he realised that his wings were flung wide open and trembling, even feeling searing hot to the touch, continuing their reaction to his dream; it would be quite some time before he could develop better control over them. It was with quite some difficulty that he managed to revert them to normal and when he took a drink to calm himself down, he spilled most of it upon himself. He lay back again, shivering, and stared at the ceiling.

It occurred to Kirby that while no-one would try and set him alight (apart from Dedede of course but there you go), there were many times in which people had got angry with him or treated him coldly. Not because he had done anything bad like steal food from the grocery store or painted rude graffiti on public buildings mind. No, it was that he was still occasionally blamed for the presence of monsters in Cappy Town, as if he acted as a beacon for them, as if he was the one who brought them here. If said monster stated that it was intentionally after Kirby, well, that was when the proverbial hit the fan. If Kirby wasn't here then the monsters would never come in the first place so it was obviously his presence that caused so much trouble!

The young Star Warrior was unable to remember the details himself as such but he had managed to build up a series of pictures based on questions he had asked Meta Knight, Tiff and Tuff, when he was curious about his early years in Dream Land. He knew that Tiff in particular kept diaries and had filled books concerning Kirby's escapades; she'd be able to tell him what went on.

While Tiff and Tuff were reluctant to go over certain details, Meta Knight told him things with complete honesty, even if they were painful; it would go against his code of honour to speak less than the truth when asked for it. Kirby had asked about what happened when Nightmare Enterprises had launched a full-scale assault against Dream Land with the aim of completely destroying him for good and what the Cappies did during the crisis.

He wished he had never asked.

The land, he had been informed, had been devastated by an immense UFO firing powerful laser beams at every possible place. The Destroyas, mechanical offshoots from the main weapon, served to raze the town even further. Every building had been completely reduced to ashes and rubble. Many had been injured and it had been pure luck that nobody was killed. Kirby, Tiff and Tuff had rushed back to town in order to recruit the locals for Meta Knight's Halberd and to take the fight to Nightmare himself.

They had all blamed Kirby. It was his fault. All of it.

" _When your ship crashed, we welcomed you into Cappy Town and now we're paying for it, Kirby," Mayor Len sighed. Not angry, just immensely disappointed._

" _Yeah, we lost everything 'cos of you!" Kawasaki cried out. Kirby was supposed to be his favourite customer. He was a good friend._

" _It was a mistake to let you live here," Tuggle muttered._

" _Maybe it's time for you to move on," Buttercup added, almost the voice of reason._

" _Yeah! It's all your fault, Kirby!" Gengu snapped._

 _When Tiff and Tuff pointed out that it was Dedede's fault, and implored them to remember all the other times Kirby had protected them, they had muttered things like: "he sure didn't protect us this time", "that's why we don't have a place to live anymore" and "it's a fine mess Kirby's got us in." The infant, they believed, was the cause of all their woes._

With shining eyes, Kirby thought to himself: all this time he had been here, had they only wanted him to protect them from the times when they got random monsters that weren't sent out solely to destroy the young Star Warrior? Had they ever seen him as a friend at all? Or did they just see him as a nuisance, an alien, someone… who didn't belong?

Such comments made Kirby recall how for some time it was suspected that he was some kind of demonbeast that had gone against its programming. Surely someone with such an array of abilities had been created for some special purpose and not born? Being able to wield Galaxia had disproven the notion and when Meta Knight had revealed his true self to Kirby, he felt it proven beyond doubt that he was a not a demonbeast. And yet still they wondered…

Back in the days of Nightmare, Kirby was literally an infant and even now he was still only a youth, still confused, still developing and still getting used to the strange changes in his life. Why should he have to carry the world on his shoulders? Why was it that when Dedede said something bad about Kirby, they believed it and then castigated Kirby for it? Why did they blame him for things and yet do nothing about the situation themselves? Even when Dream Land, nay, the whole of Popstar, was under terrible danger from Nightmare, they did not answer Meta Knight's pleas to board his Halberd and help save everyone, even when Meta Knight had done so much preparation for this day, even when Kirby was risking his life trying to stall the assault. Only a last-minute change of heart made them finally board. Any further delay and it would have been too late.

With highly unusual anger, Kirby thumped the wall. _I never asked for this!_ They had never apologised for their accusations either. They assumed everything was alright, Kirby was the cheerful one, he could deal with this kind of thing, he never held grudges, blah-de-blah-de-blah.

Did Meta Knight know anything about what the locals assumed of him? Of course he must. He knew everything that there was to know though how he received this information considering his lack of interaction with the locals he did not know. Couldn't he say anything to them? Couldn't he sort things out?

 _He must do this alone._ Yes, Meta Knight had said those words on many occasions. Surely he was to fight his own battles. Meta Knight must have fought many personal battles of a similar sort, especially in the aftermath of having one friend sacrificing herself to retrieve Galaxia and then another in being forced to kill his best friend. Surely he could sort this out himself.

Kirby closed his eyes and let his body and wings relax, trying to fill his mind with calmness and put his fraught emotions aside. He tried imagining a butterfly amongst the stars, his usual method of meditation. The butterfly, however, burst into flames, wings first. Grimacing, he tried again only to have the same result. He opened his eyes. Clearly this wasn't going to work. He swung himself out of bed and stepped outside his house. The night air was cold and there was a light wind. If he could achieve anything tonight, he could at least try and improve his flying. The warping wasn't too bad; it was flight that was giving him trouble. He wanted to reach Meta Knight's standards. Everything would be alright if he could perfect himself.

He threw open his wings, charged straight ahead and launched himself in the air, desperately hoping that he could reach the same level as the mentor he admired so much.

All that he did for them: was it worth it?


	5. Wings of Change: Part 5

**Apologies for the delay everyone; I have suddenly been drowned in university work leaving Sundays as my only guilt-free writing day. Also, I've been feeling very much under the weather and not up to writing. I also rewrote much as this chapter as it wasn't really to my satisfaction before. But it is now.**

 **Thanks to everyone for the reviews by the way, especially ChipTheCat and CallieSizemore601 for their multiple reviews! And Callie, as for your comment in your last review, well, you anticipated what I had already wrote. :)**

* * *

 **Wings Of Change: Part 5**

Dedede was profoundly bored. He had constructed a number of increasingly-complex golf courses and played on them until he had absolutely perfected his game on each one. A lack of good competitors didn't help the situation. And it wasn't as if he could open up his old Nightmare catalogues and order anything. He needed some excitement. His rivalry with Kirby provided that excitement.

He had noticed for the past couple of weeks Kirby making more frequent appearances at the old knight's quarters, still dragging that cape behind him. The odd thing about it was how it seemed to billow at times as if caught by a breeze even though Dedede had made absolutely sure there were no draughts in his castle. Apart from visiting Meta Knight more often, Dedede had also noticed Kirby making daily forays to Whispy Woods for some secret purpose. But what purpose? Dang it! Dedede just had to find out what was going on!

He took out a few robotic spy cameras cunningly disguised as various bugs. He'd never say this out loud, of course, but Escargoon did have a knack for technology that had come in great help on many occasions. He set a few to tracking Kirby and released them while he had another game of golf. They wouldn't notice them; they were very much more miniaturised than ever.

"Whoa!" he cried after he got the first results back some time later. "So that's what they're up to! Since when could they do that?"

Who'd have thought it? Another power? It was amazing really though he was miffed that Meta Knight had hidden this for many years; he was supposed to be his servant and be honest with his liege! At least Kirby had an excuse. It really wasn't fair; why did they have so many powers and he had none?! Best thing he could do was order monsters. He was, he had to admit, jealous. He wanted to fly too! Still, it was hilarious watching Kirby messing things up. Maybe he could edit it all together and produce a good video for entertainment purposes backed up with appropriate music. Yeah, now there was an idea…

"Huh? What's that?" he mumbled to himself upon noticing a box that definitely wasn't there before. Who could have left this here? A present for the king? Well, it was about time! He deserved presents! He didn't bother looking at where it came from such was his joy at receiving a present.

He eagerly yanked the ribbon and peeked inside. There was a set of instructions and… something else. Strange. It almost looked pitch-black even though that was impossible.

It seemed to call out to him. Would he go back to those times, those old times? It was certainly alluring; a most intriguing proposition. Something to cure his boredom? He would feel like a king again, a true king. Make that clear to everyone. What harm would it do? He was king, was he not? He had power over the small-fry, the cretins, his subjects. Unleash it. This is what he wanted. When was the last time he did this? It was tempting, enthralling and addictive. This would be fun. Of course it would be fun. Go on, it would allow him to get one over his rival. He gained pleasure from it. He loved it, in fact. Very much. It was desirable, yes?

These words seemed to form without him thinking them, almost as if someone was whispering to him. He shook his head and again stared at the box. It was practically reaching out to him. _Do it._

Dedede yelped, as if stung. Had something… sunk into him? Strange, now that blackness had vanished. He shuddered a little. And then…

Yes. This would be _fun._

* * *

"I can't do it!" Kirby howled.

"You can and you will," Meta Knight insisted. "One more time!"

Kirby picked himself off the hard earth, wincing a little from the after-effects of his latest crash, feeling his head throb painfully, and threw his wings open once again. Strange how the Wing Ability had come so naturally to him but this was an entirely different kettle of fish. It was not as instinctive as it looked.

"You use too much energy which means you tire yourself out prematurely," Meta Knight lectured. "You will save energy if you fold in your wings towards your body when on the upstroke. The key point is that you want more lift, less drag. I know I can deflect more air than you as I have longer wings but you will improve when you have them at the right angle." He strode over to Kirby and with the teen's permission, adjusted his wings to the position that he meant. "A high lift-to-drag ratio means that you require very little thrust to propel yourself through the air which as you may gather, saves you energy. Consider also the thrust-to-weight ratio. If this is greater than the strength of the local gravity, then flight shall occur without any need for forward motion or aerodynamic lift."

"What does that even mean?" Kirby groaned wearily.

"It means nothing if you do not get yourself into the correct position so you can fly easier."

"Easy for you to say! You've been doing this for years!" Kirby snapped.

Kirby had been getting increasingly frustrated with his inability to stay in the air for long. Even launching himself off the ground was an inconsistent exercise and as far as having to open up his wings in mid-air went when falling from a great height, he was fortunate that he had a soft body and that the lesson to return his wings to cape form just before he crashed _had_ sunk in. For someone who had been able to easily pick up new skills via copying and then having a base to build on to further develop said skills, this was an exasperating experience to say the least.

This was, Meta Knight supposed, why it was considered better for their species to develop their wings later in life. They were less likely to get frustrated with the procedure since they had many years in learning about the experience from others. They had years of maturation and growth behind them giving them a deeper understanding and patience in regards to such an activity. Crucially, by the time that most of their species had developed wings, they had gotten the most worrying and stressful parts of their life experiences out of the way.

Kirby was not only a seasoned warrior having taken part in countless brutal battles despite his youth, he was also of an age in which he was experiencing various biological changes, mainly cognitive and emotional in his case, especially pertaining to a sense of identity. He had also been working very hard lately; too hard truth be told. He was understandably stressed.

Kirby already had practically all of his childhood disturbed or even outright destroyed by what he had endured in his short life; growing wings had essentially cut off his childhood all together.

"You cannot expect to pick all this up straight away," Meta Knight said calmly, ignoring the outburst. "It is not the same as a Copy Ability in which you inherently understand the mechanics involved. You must be patient with yourself. This is learnt, not innate. Practice makes perfect."

"I keep practising but I'm still not getting it!"

"You will. I have every confidence in you. Now we'll do this once more before we move onto dimensional warping again. You have become quite good at that I notice."

Kirby obediently dashed forwards (he wasn't even going to attempt flying from a standing position yet) before kicking off the ground and spreading his wings as far as he could, letting the wind flow around his body. He tried to evoke Meta Knight's lessons and adjusted his wings accordingly, gritting against the familiar wobble. _I'm not going to fall this time!_ _I will fly properly!_ He remembered to keep his feet held against his body and tried not to over-exert himself as he turned a corner. His wings flapped hard and after a few minutes, he could already feel the strain. _How does Meta Knight make it look so easy? Why can't I do it like him? What am I missing? I just wish I could get it right. Oh, no, don't wobble! Focus! Focus!_

Meta Knight looked towards Kirby in the sky who was trying to keep to the air currents. Kirby had actually made good progress in a short space of time, all the more impressive considering his youth, but nevertheless, the young Star Warrior was annoyed at what he perceived to be his own failings. The old knight noted ruefully that it was probably because of his own harsh training methods and high expectations from someone with so much potential that this feeling had rubbed off onto Kirby. Still, he would progress even more if he wasn't so obviously distracted.

Meta Knight preferred the off-hands approach for most things (flying was the exception in this case; there was no way Kirby could pick up all the necessary techniques on his own) and that included any personal discussions. If Kirby wanted to talk to him about something then Meta Knight would wait until Kirby opened up; he felt it better this way rather than pushing the youngster. Still, Meta Knight wondered if he should open the discussion first; it had been so long since he was Kirby's age that he supposed he had forgotten entirely what it felt like.

Kirby's latest flight ended with him falling into a large, muddy patch. At least it softened his fall.

"You did manage to stay up for considerably longer this time," Meta Knight consoled. "And your speed is excellent. Once you have improved and perfected upon your control, you will then be truly able to master the art of flying in that you can move onto flying and using your Copy Abilities at the same time. But this will take time; you understand that, right?"

Kirby extracted himself out of the mud wordlessly and looked at the stains on his patterned cape. He realised he had sustained a number of small cuts and bruises from his constant crashes. He wandered over to the river and began to clean himself. He sighed heavily. He bet his mentor hadn't had the same problems as he was currently having.

"Meta?" he said in a small voice after a while. "Can… can we finish early today? I'm… I'm just not getting it."

Meta Knight reached out to his young protégé and wiped the last bit of mud away. His eyes glowed with concern; he had never heard Kirby so lacking in confidence before now.

"A break would be helpful, yes," Meta Knight replied. "I think we should also take tomorrow off as well and then we'll run through gliding again. You have been working hard these past weeks." He paused briefly, inspecting his student, looking at his tired eyes. "You've been going out every night to practise even after our training, haven't you?"

The teen knew he couldn't deny it. "Yeah."

"You're overworking yourself," Meta Knight admonished him. "I know you're eager to fly but doing so much is more of a hindrance than a help and it won't help you get better any faster. In fact, it can be a detriment to the process of learning. You're exhausted and that can be dangerous, especially considering the other work we must do. You must be patient with yourself. I have told you this before."

"I've not been able to sleep anyway," Kirby shrugged. "I figured it wouldn't make much difference."

Meta Knight frowned. "Nightmares?"

His young charge appeared uneasy. "Sometimes. But not always."

His mentor hesitated for a moment. "How would you like to go to Kawasaki's? Perhaps we may take some refreshment and discuss matters further."

Kirby looked up at the unusual proposal. He knew that Meta Knight meant refreshment for himself; nothing short of the apocalypse would make his mentor take his mask off in public even to eat or drink. Still, he appreciated the suggestion. He nodded and got to his feet, letting his mentor lead the way back to town. He was unusually silent for most of the journey.

"Kirby?"

"Mm?"

"You seem troubled, my friend. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Kirby faltered. He knew that he would have Meta Knight's confidence no matter what he told him but he didn't want to burden him with what he assumed were trivial issues; Meta Knight had been rather hectic himself in teaching Kirby new things and locating monsters. Also, if he was supposed to be an independent Star Warrior then surely he could deal with his problems alone, right? He felt utterly confused.

Then again, it would be good to get things off his chest.

"Meta, I—"

Both heard a car screeching down the road, driving at insane speed, and winced at the noise. Escargoon pleaded with the king to drive more slowly but Dedede ignored them and carried on, leaving the Star Warriors choking on dust.

"What… do you think, Kirby?" Meta Knight coughed.

"I think that Dedede's up to no good again," Kirby frowned. If Tiff was here, she would say that Dedede was _definitely_ up to no good and that the only reason he still wasn't ordering monsters was because he hadn't the means to do so. Kirby was prepared to give Dedede the benefit of doubt nowadays but something told him that today would be different. The king was sadly addicted to monsters, making Kirby and Meta Knight's job a constant battle. What was it in his psyche that made him so? He wasn't sure and Kirby wished Dedede had chosen a different day to raise his suspicions.

"Yes," Meta Knight mused. "There was something…"

By the time they returned to town, they saw that the square was already full of people there by demand of the king and the Waddle Dees had wheeled in a cinema-sized screen. Dedede held a box. Meta Knight wrapped his cape around himself and frowned. The king did not look right.

"Sire, I don't know what you're planning but knowing your mental capacity, it can't be a good thing," Escargoon muttered. "Oh, hey, the two slowcoaches have finally arrived," he added, seeing the Star Warriors. "I think his Majesty's a little more unhinged than usual if you know what I mean. Deal with him won't you?"

"It'll be fun," Dedede said, his eyes a little glazed. "It'll be real fun."

Dedede stood and puffed himself up importantly. This was going to be _fun._ It was always fun getting one over that there Kirby.

"Cappies, I have some fantabulously shockin' news that will blow your puny, little minds!" he manically grinned. "Now, ya'll know little Kirby's a goody-goody, beating up monsters an' so on, but it seems he's been hidin' a little secret an' it don't seem fair if it ain't shared out. It might be dangerous if I don't tell ya'll. Not only that, but someone else who has a secret as well: Meta Knight!"

 _What?_

"And it's gonna be _fun!_ " And before he could be stopped, Dedede opened the box.

To everyone's great alarm, a black entity suddenly burst into the air and surrounded Dedede as an eerie mass of dark energy. Everyone scrabbled back towards the surrounding buildings while Escargoon fled to the safety of the limousine. Dedede absorbed the dark mass, already possessing a small part of it in the first place. A violent, black-streamed wind blew around the king as the dark energy gained power. There was another cry of alarm from the crowd as he grew three times his normal size. His aura shimmered darkly as the puppet king lifted his heavy hammer with incredible ease.

Yet the transformation was not done. Beside the king, a number of small, ocular beings materialised out of thin air. Their red irises focussed on the two Star Warriors before them, those beings of light.

Meta Knight had phased Galaxia into existence the moment the black mass emerged. However, Dedede fixed his full attention onto Kirby.

"I'm gonna show everyone who you two really are!" Dedede declared.

"Oh, my! What's wrong with the king?" one of the Cappies cried out.

"Possessed again?" Escargoon groaned from the sidelines. He reflected that he probably should have realised this in the first place. "Why does he make a habit of this?"

Kirby grimaced. What was Dedede's problem with unleashing monsters? Normally, he would take it on chin, being that sort of person, considering that he dealt with this on a regular basis, but today he plainly was not in the mood.

Dedede launched himself towards Kirby with a number of the ocular creatures following behind; only a couple went for Meta Knight. Kirby quickly dodged a couple of the faster eyeballs but was violently struck in the side by the hammer, sending him crashing against a tree. He would have some severe bruising later. Wincing, he avoided the next barrage by phasing to another spot, feeling only a small amount of dimensional sickness. He hadn't managed to reach the point where he could immediately strike after reappearing but he hadn't a Copy Ability yet anyway. Kirby scowled. Every once in a while, it annoyed him greatly how he never seemed able to fight properly without copying something to augment his abilities. Every other warrior he knew didn't need that. Sure, it gave him a hell of a lot more flexibility but…

"I gotta show your true form, Star Warrior," Dedede said. "Both of you. It told me to."

Star Warrior? Dedede never called him that. Meta Knight also heard. His eyes glowed green whilst he fended off his attackers, sword slicing the air faster than anyone else would have deemed possible. Each slash drew blood and streaming, dark energy from the creatures yet they did not slow down.

Kirby desperately looked about for a suitable ability to copy. He saw the Cappies staring at him from afar. Couldn't they throw him anything? Couldn't they be, you know, useful?

Meta Knight was obviously used to it but his protégé was finding his cape a real drag, preventing him from moving as freely as he once did. He tripped up once and when Dedede swung his hammer downwards, he managed to get a little tangled up.

"Just take it off, Kirby!" one of the bystanders called out.

He ignored them and had to make do with some leaves to transform into Leaf Kirby. This had the advantage of at least providing him with a temporary shield when he was assaulted by the ramming eyeballs. Like Meta Knight, his attacks also drew blood and particles of darkness. He fought back hard, leaves whipping directly against their red-rimmed eyes, but he was being overwhelmed.

(Quite unintentionally, the particles drifted over the gathered Cappies like a raincloud, naturally drawn, as it was, to the masses, being part of a mass itself. Something in the air subtly changed.)

Meta Knight raced over to Kirby's side and forced back one of the attackers with a powerful swipe. "Concentrate on bringing down Dedede," he grunted. "Something seems to be controlling him. If we stop him, these other creatures may perhaps back off."

"Yes, sir."

Kirby launched razor-sharp leaves at Dedede who yelped with pain. He dodged a potentially lethal blow and spun to the side, leaves dancing around his body. He sent them flying against the king again and once more after avoiding another strike. One of the eyeballs sped towards him, streaming dark particles but Meta Knight blocked its path and stabbed at it with Galaxia. It keened and followed up with a full-scale assault against its attacker.

Emboldened, Kirby pummelled one of the other eyeballs before returning his attention to Dedede. He charged himself up, ready to unleash a powerful leaf storm. He felt a little bit sorry that he had to do this to Dedede but it was the king's fault anyway that all this was happening.

"Show yourself, Star Warrior!" Dedede yelled.

Then, a red-rimmed eye opened in a place where it should not have opened and made the bystanders feel very sick though truth be told, they were already feeling sick, not to mention strange. The eye looked directly at Kirby who froze in his tracks, staring at this very wrong eye, before he was, without warning, utterly blasted head-on by a beam of darkness.

There was a cry of alarm from the bystanders, mingled with Kirby's scream, when, once the darkness faded away, Kirby lay sprawled on the ground. That wasn't the most alarming thing though. It was the things protruding from his back. The energy crackled all over his body but they were concentrated most heavily around his wings. Strange wings they were indeed.

They seemed very familiar, the darkness told them, only somewhat larger than the last time they had seen them. Were they not the sign of someone possessed, controlled or turned? Were they not the sign of a demonbeast?

The possessed Dedede stomped over but not before Meta Knight had reached Kirby first with Galaxia glowing brightly. The pink puffball was conscious though only just. The pain was incredible. He struggled to get up and did not seen aware that his wings were on show, wings he still could not properly use, wings that looked… demonic.

A large hammer was pointed in both warriors' direction. The eyeball creatures floated in one spot. "I know you both. I have seen your true forms. You too shall reveal yours, Meta Knight."

Meta Knight's eyes glowed silver, something that they very rarely did. To another gasp from the crowd, he let his cape smoothly transform into a pair of wings, relishing the chance to have them spread out freely. Escargoon raised an eyebrow; he had been somewhat surprised when he had seen the videos but then considering that these two were Star Warriors with all sorts of talents, perhaps it was not so surprising at all. What was surprising though, was the way the crowd was acting. Close up, their eyes were tinged red and now they were heading towards the battlefield. Escargoon sighed; why hadn't he left this place for somewhere more normal by now? On the plus side though, at least he would be able to lord it over them later by saying that _he_ hadn't been affected.

"They remind you of your nightmares, yes?" Dedede said in a voice very much unlike his own, a subtle influence. "You fear them. They are like monsters, aren't they?"

"Demonbeasts! They're demonbeasts!"

Kirby flinched. The way they sounded, the way they were looking at him… It was just like his dreams. He tried to revert his wings back to cape form but he found they were stuck and a wave of searing agony coursed through them. Was it the monster's attack or his own fear causing this? They hurt badly, quivering against the harsh shock they received.

"I'm not a demonbeast!" he cried, his eyes watering with pain.

"Kirby. Do not respond. They are not themselves," Meta Knight said, noticing the cloud in the sky.

"You always bring monsters here because the monsters are always after you. We lived in peace before you came here. Can't you see you're a monster yourself?"

"I'm not a monster!" Kirby howled, feeling his heart pound horribly fast.

"You carry the sign of a monster with those demon wings."

"These are just wings! What's wrong about them? How does that make me a monster?"

"Monster! Demonbeast!" Their eyes glowed like flames.

Kirby found himself trembling with a mixture of emotions. Why should they treat him this way? Why should he be seen like this when they had no problem with his prior appearance? He could not help what had happened. He had accepted it and he would accept it even more when he could fly properly. Surely that was alright?

"Monsters!"

They rushed towards the pair faster than they would have normally done and for a moment Kirby did not know what to do. Meta Knight took to the skies. Kirby tried the same but in his panic, he struggled against the air. He yelled out for his Warp Star instead and to his fantastic relief, the star came zooming towards him after only a few seconds. He leapt on the star and took it up to a safe point. He breathed heavily, more unnerved than usual. He noticed Meta Knight beating his wings and scooted up a little to let him land. The mob below shouted to them while Dedede was lifted up by a strange force, followed by the floating eyeballs.

"See how easily I can take these weak minds?" the voice spoke, now not sounding like Dedede at all being far more menacing and cold. "See how pathetic they are? Why do you waste your time saving those who clearly do not deserve it? Look at this king; a most pitiable example of a mortal as I have ever occupied one. And yet you have helped him before. Why do you bother? Why do you care?"

"If we don't, who will?" Meta Knight answered. "We help those in need and serve to protect others when it is in our power to do so because we cannot bear to stand idly by and watch lives be ruined and destroyed. We take on these tasks so that we can all live in peace and happiness. We look out for each other. We care and love for each other and strive to better ourselves. It is called living. It is something you will never understand."

"And yet," the voice whispered, "see when I revealed your true form, look how they reacted when I opened their hearts. They do not care. They have hate and darkness. And there will always be darkness."

"There are some who do not care, who have hate and darkness, who do not care for the help they receive. But we still help because it would pain us to not help. We will always stand strong. And there will always be light."

"Will there be when I see you both destroyed, the greatest Star Warriors who ever lived?" It then turned to face Kirby directly. Despite his pain, the young Star Warrior stood straight. "Will you have the audacity to challenge me, Kirby?"

Kirby narrowed his eyes at the eldritch abomination currently occupying Dedede. "I will."

A nasty laugh filled the air. "I shall be keeping my eye on you, little Star Warrior. Be glad that today is only a taster. We will fight many times against each other. And we know what the outcome will be."

Kirby and Meta Knight stood their ground as the dark energy suddenly erupted from Dedede and joined the black cloud poisoning the sky. The mass shimmered briefly before soaring away to a far distance, making preparations, making plans to extinguish the light for good.

As soon as it left, Dedede fell to the earth with a heavy thud and yelled loudly, but since he landed on his substantial stomach, he wasn't really injured. The Cappies stood about blinking, wondering what was going on. They saw Dedede groaning on the ground, wondering why his stomach hurt so much, as if something had latched onto him there. They saw Kirby and Meta Knight land as well, with wings spread wide open once Kirby sent his Warp Star back to Kabu. They were confused, not to mention a little wary.

"You both have wings?" Mayor Len said. "You've never shown them before."

"Yeah. No problem is it?" Kirby asked suspiciously.

"Noooo…" He carried on the word for too long, hesitated that bit too much. "It just reminds me when you were possessed that time, Kirby and that some of the monsters have similar wings…"

"It's not the same!" Kirby snapped. Maybe they were still a little disorientated from the dark influence. Maybe _he_ was a little disorientated from the dark influence but Kirby felt his earlier worry and anger bubble up again. They stood at a distance, not seeing if either of them were alright from their battle. "Just to let you know, we're not injured too much, thanks for asking."

"Um, we haven't asked that yet," said Gus.

Kirby gave a forced smile. "Really? My mistake."

Meta Knight looked down at Kirby and resolved that he was definitely going to talk to his young charge afterwards.

"Ow… my tummy hurts…" King Dedede moaned.

"Your Majesty, are you OK?" Escargoon cried, rushing over. "Of course you are; you've been through this before. I don't want to see a sight like that again by the way. Eyes don't belong there…"

"Ugh, didn't know that was goin' to happen," Dedede grumbled. "Thought it was jus' a little ol' box an' a nice present."

"So you took it of your own accord?" Meta Knight confirmed. "Did you check where it came from?"

"Hey, never look a gift horse in the mouth; it was free!" Dedede declared. "Oh, hey, you showin' them little wings of yours! What happened to make that happen?"

Meta Knight frowned. "It sounds as if you know about our wings already, sire."

"Heh, heh!" Dedede laughed, much like his usual self. "I've gotta keep an eye on my subjects jus' in case ya'll up to no good against me! I knew alright! I was goin' to put a show an' tell everyone about it! It would be real fun!"

Things might still have gone OK for Dedede if he had just admitted to spying on them though he still would have got a severe dressing-down for violation of privacy; it was the principle of the thing even if the wings themselves were not seen as a problem, Dedede not fussed by such things at all. But then he flicked the screen on.

The crowd watched with incredulity as the pair's capes fluidly transformed into bat-like wings. On-screen, slightly out of focus, they saw the young hero sustain a number of bumps and bruises as he attempted to copy the techniques Meta Knight was teaching him. They saw his sharp, determined gaze often broken by frustration as he failed to grasp true flight, as he plummeted into the earth countless times and landed in mud, water, whatever. Dedede and Escargoon found this very amusing and even a couple of the citizens tittered at his funnier falls. Most of the video was, in fact, a compilation of Kirby's failures, with some catchy music in the background. The bit where Kirby got his cape caught on a tree branch was hilarious and the part where he was hit on the head by a passing fish after falling into the river... utterly priceless.

The citizens laughed mainly with relief that nothing truly sinister was going on and wondering what they had been thinking earlier. Obviously it was to do with a monster but Kirby and Meta Knight had defeated it and saved them once again. It was all fine.

"Can't keep away from the ground, hey, Kirby?" one of the Cappies said, sniggering.

"Now, now," said Mabel. "He's trying his best, the poor dear."

Kirby's cheeks were red with embarrassment and anger. So not only had they momentarily had their suspicions of him, reminding him of how being a hero could be so utterly thankless at times, never mind the mitigating circumstances, they were now laughing at him. He had reached his breaking point.

"You spied on us," Meta Knight said flatly.

"Well, you were up to somethin' interestin' so I thought why not? Besides, you're my sworn knight; you're supposed to be straight with me from the get-go."

"Perhaps so, but I did not want you to know too much about me when my purpose was to wait for a new Star Warrior whilst you kept ordering monsters. Besides, who knows what you may have done with me knowing that I… could be construed as a monster? It has happened before."

"Good point," Dedede frowned. "I haven't used you to do my tyrannical biddin' much have I? An' I guess that ain't goin' to start now. But," he chuckled, "that embarrassed you good an' proper so that's good enough for me! I got one over you both! Especially Kirby!"

"You may do so with me but not with Kirby. He is not your sworn knight. You should not spy on your subjects."

"If we didn't spy, how are we supposed to know if no-one's planning a riot against his Majesty?" Escargoon said. "He's such a lazy, overweight tyrant it's a wonder no-one has rioted yet! And no-one does tyranny better than the king."

"Yup. So it's just as well Kirby ain't plannin' a riot 'gainst me ain't it, squirt? Uhhhh, Kirby?" he said, noticing that the puffball was unusually quiet. Meta Knight looked at his charge and realised that he looked ready to explode.

The Cappies also watched the pink puffball. His wings trembled madly.

" _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Everyone jolted with shock at that furious cry. His wings shook with violent emotion and sent spasms of hot pain rushing through him yet Kirby didn't care about trying to control them. Dedede literally threw himself backwards in the car beside a pale Escargoon as Kirby gave him the mother of all death glares that basically said _'I will end you.'_

"What is your problem with me?!" Kirby screamed. "What is it with you?! Why do you keep treating me like some sort of rival? It's pathetic and I'm sick to death of it! Ever since I arrived here, you've always been trying to hurt me and humiliate me even when I was no threat to you whatsoever! The first thing you did to me when I crash-landed here was throw me off a _cliff!_ Have I tried to steal your throne? Have I tried to harm you? Have I done anything to you that might be seen as bad so I deserve this treatment? No! I would have no problems with you whatsoever if you just left me alone. Hell, you can be friendly at times. You can do nice things; you've even done nice things for me once in a while but then you just completely ruin it by doing stuff like _this!_ "

"Heh, heh, no need to be so mad, Kirby," Dedede tried placating him, smiling sickly-sweet in order to hide his fear. He didn't think Kirby would act like this. "No real harm done, right? An' no-one was scared or anythin'; they had a laugh an' laughin's good. I'm supposed to keep my subjects happy ain't I? An' you did beat that monster in a way; I mean, it did leave after all an' no-one got hurt or anythin'. Well, the Cappies didn't get hurt I suppose. But I didn't even order it. I didn't know what was goin' to happen exactly. It were just delivered to me an' I thought, hey, might seem fun."

" _Fun?! FUN?!"_

"Start the car!" Dedede yelled with real terror to Escargoon during this tirade. The car, in time-honoured tradition, refused to start when one absolutely needed it to right away.

"I should just let the monsters do away with you when you've unleashed them! Who then has to destroy them so that everyone else is kept safe? Me! Who has to put their life on line every time because of the monsters? Me! And that goes for the rest of you!" Kirby snarled, turning to the Cappies who, as one, wisely took one massive step away. "I'm not expecting to be showered with praise every time or whatever. I'm just doing a job. But you know, some acknowledgement of what I'm going through, of what I'm doing, would be nice, not just a half-hearted thanks!"

"We do acknowledge what you're doing, Kirby," Mayor Len protested.

"' _It's just as well we have Kirby here. Imagine if we had to do such horrible business ourselves',"_ Kirby mimicked. _"'It's look as if these monsters are getting out of hand. You better hurry up and beat them or we might think you're slacking on the job.'_ I can think of plenty examples. I'm not a little kid anymore in case you haven't noticed; I do pay attention to what you're all saying! Not only that, you blame me for when things go wrong, as if I brought the demonbeasts here myself! Well, thanks for your vote of confidence! Do you know how much it hurts when you belittle me like that? Do you know how much it hurts when I'm being beaten by a monster? It hurts a lot!"

Meta Knight narrowed his eyes at the Cappies. It sounded as if Kirby had been bottling this up for ages.

"And now I've got these wings, you're probably gonna think I'm even more weird or monster-like! Because I'm not like you. Should I be ashamed of who I am? No! Why should I be?"

"We don't think you're weird or monster-like at all, Kirby," Kawasaki protested. "What gave you that idea?"

"When I asked you lot, starting with Gengu, about wings like that Batafire had and you said they made you think of demonbeasts." Gengu winced. He had forgotten about that.

"And stop making me do everything for you!" Kirby ranted. "You want me to destroy demonbeasts? Fine, that's what I'm here for. That's my job. But don't saddle me with all the petty jobs you can't be bothered doing yourselves like delivering stuff or clearing up the garbage you all throw away. Can't you see that I'm exhausted?" For the first time, they then noticed the grey bags under Kirby's eyes. "I'm not a miracle-worker! The odd time I did refuse to do something, you acted so disappointed that you practically guilt-tripped me into doing more stuff! Just because I'm supposed to be seen as a hero, if that means anything, it doesn't mean you can keep taking advantage of me! _I've had enough!_ "

"Get it goin'!" Dedede bawled.

" _You're not getting away this time!"_

Escargoon managed to start the limousine just in time and put the pedal to the metal as if his life depended on it which, in the current circumstances, was not an unreasonable assumption. Without even bothering with a running start, Kirby took to the air and full of rage, began chasing down the pair like an ancient Fury. It was with some irony that he was flying perfectly.

Meta Knight gave the Cappies a cold stare. "I hope this is the last I hear of any problems being caused for my student," he whispered icily. "He cares for you all deeply. I expect for you to care for him too." He then launched off the ground, leaving them all to think deeply about their actions, and began his pursuit.

"FASTER! FASTER!" Dedede shrieked, walloping Escargoon's head.

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

Before Kirby could do some serious damage, however, Meta Knight pounced on him, pulling him to the ground. The tyres squeaked gratingly as the limousine sped into the distance.

"Let me at him!" Kirby yelled, struggling against Meta Knight's tight grip. "Let me go!" His mentor pushed down on his wings to stop from them striking his hard mask. "Get off me!"

"To do what?" Meta Knight rumbled. "You might do something you'll regret and I won't have that. You may not even forgive yourself if you lose control completely. Dedede embarrassed you, yes, but that is no reason to fight him, especially as you get along with him fairly well nowadays. And everything else that happened was down to that dark entity. Listen to me!"

 _"Get off me now!"_

"Not until you calm down!"

Kirby kept on struggling, too angry to care, not wanting to calm down, unwilling to give up the fight, and kept on fighting against Meta Knight's strong hold until he began panting for breath. Once Meta Knight finally lessened his hold, Kirby managed to tear himself away and sped towards the forest, wings madly beating the air.

"Kirby! Get back here! We must talk!"

"Go away!"

"Kirby!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Meta Knight stopped in his tracks and wondered if he ought to follow. Gone were the days in which as a child, the only bad thing Kirby suffered from were nightmares. Everything that had happened recently had proven too much for Kirby. How long had Kirby been feeling like this? Hadn't he talked to _anyone_ about this?

The old Star Warrior sighed to himself. He had responsibility for Kirby and he had failed him.


	6. Wings of Change: Part 6

**Ah, the last part.**

 **I'm glad I managed to do most of my writing in January when I was off otherwise I wouldn't have the chance to write this! It's been nice having the chance to do nothing but write and since I had the Kirby ideas in my head, I had to get them down even though I've definitely got other stories which I really should be working on. But you know, time and stuff. :)**

 **You know that business about the eye in the wrong place by the way? Well, if you know your Kirby games, you'll know what I mean. Because you know, rated E for Everyone!**

 **Thanks for all your reviews for this story and please keep reviewing in the future! And also: I like long reviews. I appreciate the thought put into them. :D**

* * *

 **Wings Of Change: Part 6**

 _What a nightmare,_ Meta Knight sighed to himself. This was one kind of battle in which he had not had much experience in. He decided to leave Kirby for the time being and instead caught up with Dedede and Escargoon who had been yelling at the Waddle Dees to lower the drawbridge as fast as humanely possible. Meta Knight coughed to get their attention. Both turned round and were utterly relieved to see that Kirby was not with the old Star Warrior. Escargoon wisely looked upwards just to make absolutely sure.

"Oh, Kirby's gone elsewhere, huh?" the king said, seeing Meta Knight perch on the end of his car, keeping his wings in full view this time. He did not appear to be intimidated by them. Considering the kind of monsters Dedede had seen and ordered, Meta Knight and Kirby were hardly going to register as frightening. Besides, it wasn't as if either Kirby or Meta Knight would have done anything to them. They did fight demonbeasts after all; it was their role in life. In this he was that bit more sensible than the Cappies proving that wonders never ceased. "I thought he were gonna be beat me up like one of them monsters. I honestly didn't think it would be that much of a problem. I was jus' bored an' wanted a bit of fun. But, uhh, I didn't reckon that that... thing would happen to me." Escargoon had filled him in on the details, reminding Dedede about the perils that such monsters could bring to one's self. For once he looked a little ashamed. "I, uhh, guess you had your reasons not to show your wings before now?"

"Indeed. I would have preferred to so in less, how we shall we say, frantic circumstances. It is also a matter of trust, sire, and that you were spying on us." Meta Knight glowered from underneath his mask. "Even if you were not acting unkindly, for I realise that there were mitigating circumstances, and that you do not care for this aspect of our appearance for which I am grateful for, the point still stands that you took the element of choice away from us with your idea of fun and that Kirby felt humiliated on the field today. He has been going through a lot recently and this was the last straw."

"I am really, really sorry for that," Dedede mumbled. He fumbled with his mittens and sighed, not looking Meta Knight directly in the eye. Escargoon looked at the king in shock: he actually sounded sincere!

"Sure, I thought he was an absolute pain when he got here," Dedede continued, now facing the Star Warrior, "but I kinda like the little fellow now. He knows I play pranks on him an' stuff but it ain't like what it used to be, I suppose what with him bein' older an' stuff. An' he's done stuff to me anyway so it's all good an' fair. Well... maybe I've done more to him I guess. I didn't realise he'd blow his top! But yeah, I guess he were angry an' I didn't want that. I'm... sorry, alright?"

Meta Knight blinked and showed no signs of emotion. Many years ago, Dedede had ordered Meta Knight on several occasions to destroy Kirby, thinking that the pink puffball was somehow a threat to his royal standing. Or maybe it was just because he took offence at this stranger flying in from nowhere, saving the day and lapping up Cappy Town's attention. Either way, Meta Knight would never have gone through with the king's orders. But now it had mellowed to a point where, if Dedede didn't exactly love Kirby, then he didn't really hate him anymore either. In fact, he really was rather friendly to Kirby on many occasions nowadays. Things had changed. Certainly, it was not the same reaction he had experienced way back on Rock Star. They were misguided to be sure… but not malicious.

"I shall accept that," Meta Knight acknowledged with his vast reserves of patience. "That is good."

Would there be more monsters in the future? With that creature about, yes, there would certainly be and no doubt, having seen Dedede's thoughts, the creature would use Dedede to bring more monsters into the fold, perhaps with a similar system to that of Nightmare Enterprises. Even so, Dedede's desire to own monsters was not really to do with trying to kill Kirby anymore but mainly to play about with him, perhaps humiliate him (which he certainly had accomplished today) and to be a general nuisance to his subjects just because he could. If only he could stop Dedede from doing that. Maybe take over the kingdom himself. A nice idea perhaps, but he could never go through with it considering the comfortable position he had in Dream Land, not to mention Kirby's admiration and respect.

"As it is," Meta Knight continued, "Kirby would have dealt with your foolishness in his usual amiable manner on any other day. But I think you chose very much the wrong day."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"It is a matter of personal discussion between myself and Kirby. Now, do you still have the box that the creature came in?"

Uh, sure thing, Meta Knight," Escargoon answered. "I hadn't even seen it myself until this morning being a busy, underpaid lackey as usual. Guess that means you shouldn't accept gifts from strangers, huh? You didn't think that it was even the least bit suspicious, sire?"

"It was free!" Dedede protested.

"And this is why a Star Warrior's work never ends," Meta Knight sighed. People like Dedede existed everywhere. If evil wasn't going to be downfall of a person, civilisation or whatever, it would be downright stupidity. "As it was, the creature was only testing us and used the opportunity to find out more about us. It could have done far much more. It used you as a channel to examine and observe us, to see what we are like in battle, to see our true selves, as it were. It is capable of being extremely deadly indeed. It can do far worse than possession. Yes…" He left that thought hanging in the air before examining the box in its entirety, checking for any signs, any clues. "Ah."

"Huh? What is it? Is it Nightmare Enterprises?" The king tried not to sound too interested or the knight would probably think suspiciously of him.

"It is not Nightmare Enterprises. But I think we have found out where all the new demonbeasts are coming from," Meta Knight grimaced. "I suspected as much; I remember reading about the legends of this entity a very long time ago. If only I had found this out sooner. I shall have to inform the GSA as soon as possible. I would you advise you to have no dealings with this being lest you wish to be possessed again or worse. These are hardly toys, sire. But for now… keep this safe for me. I shall pick it up later." He did not need to add _or else._

The old Star Warrior took off into the skies once more and left his liege and the lackey behind.

* * *

Meta Knight flew onwards whilst searching for Kirby. _I should have shown them a long time ago,_ he berated himself. _All this would have been avoided._ _Or would there still have been trouble of a sort?_ Meta Knight would have been able to deal with any potential consequences, especially as he had the support of Kirby and his friends and even if that wasn't the case, Dedede wouldn't dream of treating him the same way as he did Kirby. Nobody messed with Meta Knight. _Dedede really can be a fool at times. Is it any wonder we have always had a problem with demonbeasts when there are people like him around? I wonder if he has ever truly learned from his past experiences? I can see why Kirby gets frustrated…_

Still, he couldn't let Kirby completely wail on the monarch; Dedede was not the first person to have been tricked several times by such a being and he certainly wouldn't be the last. The incident had been unfortunate, to be sure, but Kirby had to deal with any negative reactions and his own negative feelings.

In an ideal world, he shouldn't have had to. But where in the universe did such an ideal world exist?

"Kirby!" he called out several times as he flew. It was highly unlikely that his protégé would answer but Meta Knight tried anyway. On the way, he saw signs of Kirby's passage, sections of which the teen had vented his anger upon, getting his pent-up emotions out of his system, not knowing what to think or feel.

He wished that Kirby had opened up to him about what he was feeling. He sighed and wondered if it was a failure on his own part, for not making it clear enough that Kirby could talk to him about any problems whenever he wanted. Maybe it was the young Star Warrior's pride telling him that he ought to be able to deal with his personal issues himself; maybe he just didn't want to worry anyone with what he may have considered to be relatively trivial issues. Either way, the premature growth of his wings only added to his overpowering feeling of self-consciousness. He had no-one to talk to about this but Meta Knight and Meta Knight was… well… old.

Meta Knight had had the advantage of time as well; time with family and friends of the same species, time for love, time for coping with new changes, and time to prepare himself for being a Star Warrior. Time had not been on Kirby's side. Kirby had had little choice over what things had happened to him. Most things had been forced upon the young Star Warrior and he had to deal with them as best as he could no matter what.

It was all too much.

He heard a familiar voice making unfamiliar sounds.

The old knight found his protégé next to the river, his shivering, still-pained wings splayed on the ground. He kept his head down and vaguely kicked his feet above the rushing water. He moodily threw a stone into the river, making a loud splash. He hiccupped occasionally and wiped his streaming eyes. Everything just seemed to hurt so much inside and he felt even worse knowing that people would be fervently discussing his outburst and that it wouldn't be forgotten about for a long time if ever. It just wasn't the expected thing after all. He didn't bother turning around when he heard a soft footfall; he already knew who it would be.

He was still a young child but he had seen and been through far more than most adults.

"Will you now tell me how you're feeling?" Meta Knight asked gently as he sat down beside Kirby. Kirby turned away from Meta Knight, not wanting to show his face, not wanting to be further humiliated. He felt his heart twinge with guilt and sorrow, seeing Kirby like this. "It sounded as if you wanted to let it all out for a very long time, my friend."

"You're not gonna go away until I do, will you?" the pink puffball sniffled.

"Probably not. I would be failing in my care towards you."

"Your care?" Kirby scoffed. If he was going to be angry at everyone else then he might as well be angry at Meta Knight too. His wings began to twitch madly again, still sore from the attack, making his emotions all the more obvious. "You leave me to fight monsters on my own even when I'm getting battered or burnt or electrocuted or something! I've lost count of the amount of times I've been nearly killed! It's a wonder I haven't had more trying to find me when I'm asleep or just doing stuff in Cappy Town! And the more I fight, the more monsters want to see me _dead!_ "

"You know I help you when it is in my power to do so," Meta Knight spoke, "as I did in that battle just before, although that battle was only a means to test us before it begins the real assault. You know I prepare you for your trials as best as I can in our training sessions. Many of the Star Warrior missions we go on are usually too much for one individual to cope with so I do help you in those circumstances. Yet you always excel yourself despite the harsh situations, even when things are at their most dire. You are a strong warrior and a kind-hearted individual and many regard you highly for your skill, courage and warmth. As do I."

The young Star Warrior tried not to show his spark of pride at the words; Meta Knight was obviously buttering him up. He was determined to show how miserable he was feeling, especially considering how misery loved company.

"Everyone just keeps using me to do stuff and then they blame me when things aren't going right! And if they're not doing that, then I'm still seen as a little kid. _Don't be mean, Kirby!_ " he warbled. "I try to make them happy but nothing I do actually counts!

"You sound conflicted. You say people give you too much responsibility yet you also say that they treat you like a child. Which is it? And what is it you want?"

"They do both," Kirby muttered. "They've been doing that for years. It's stupid but that's what they do. I should be used to it by now, huh? Is there any point in me complaining? I just want them to stop expecting everything from me. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Then tell them that. They cannot read your mind. They don't know what you're thinking. There is little use in staying silent about it."

"It's kinda obvious what I'm thinking at times. You always know what I'm thinking."

"Evidently not always. But I know you better than everyone else. That's why you need to tell them what you're thinking and perhaps be a little more firm with them and say you are overburdened."

"They'll just say that I'm being mean and that I ought to help them out because I'm a Star Warrior. Apparently I haven't got enough to do. They just want me to do stuff for them all the time and I'm sick of it. I can't keep doing this. I'm just so tired of it all."

"If you tell them exactly how you're feeling and why, they will listen. Tell them that this is making you ill and you cannot take on any more jobs."

"Huh."

"Kirby..."

"I'm just sick of it all, alright? And they're only gonna be talking about me back in town about me yelling like that."

"Of course they will. But I believe you made your point to clear to them and they will make their apologies to you."

"Huh," Kirby muttered. "We'll see."

Kirby remained silent for some time before changing topics and bursting out: "I'm not apologising to Dedede either if that's what you're thinking!"

"I'm not expecting you to although you would have gone too far had I not stopped you and an apology would show a level of maturity. Yet I know it was done in a rare moment of anger that can be very well justified. And Dedede knows that he should not have done what he did. He said he is sorry for that."

"Yeah, right," Kirby scoffed. "He's never sorry for what he does to me. He finds it so much _fun._ He'd make me into a golf ball if he could. He's tried that before."

"Then perhaps you should talk to Dedede and ask him yourself for an explanation and apology."

"He should find me! He had no reason to do that to me whatsoever!" Kirby seethed, still feeling the need to vent rage. "He just thinks it funny to make fun of me. He always has done. He hates me! I never asked for this! Everyone thinks I'm a freak!"

"When have they said that?"

"I know they do!" Kirby insisted. "You saw how they looked when my wings were forced open! As if having a black hole for a stomach isn't enough! As if I'm not different enough! I'm completely out of place here and they know it! I'm a weird little puffball that sucks things up to defeat my opponents. Who else does that?"

"I'm sorry, Kirby. I'm afraid this is my fault. Perhaps if I had been more open with everyone from the beginning, this particular incident may have been avoided. And yes, there are hardly any individuals who have your Copy Ability powers and so do not use your method of battling but that is nothing to be ashamed of. Think of how many people you have helped with your skills."

Kirby mumbled something and kept his eyes on the flowing waters.

"You'll have to speak up."

"I said you could have been more open and that you could go into town more so that people don't keep bothering me for every little thing!" His cheeks still burned bright red with anger, almost comically so. "Do this, Kirby! Do that, Kirby! Suck it up, Kirby! The only reason people respect my ability to copy stuff is so that I can do things for them. I'm treated as a doormat and nobody cares about me."

"I care."

Kirby stopped yelling and Meta Knight sensed all the fight had gone out of him. He shivered a little, making his wings continue to shake. The teen tried to refrain from crying, thinking he would look even more like a child in his mentor's eyes, though he wasn't entirely successful in doing so. He felt ashamed that he was blubbing. Star Warriors did not blub. He tried wiping his tears away and whispered in a wobbly voice: "I w-wish I was like you."

 _Ah. Now we're getting to the crux of it._ "In what way?" his mentor enquired.

"You always know what you're d-doing, you can do a lot of things that I can't e-even when I try. You're just…" Kirby paused, not entirely sure of what words to use. He gave up and attempted to move his wings. They seemed to move fine. They did not seem to hurt much now so he finally returned his wings to their other form and pulled his cape around tightly in a similar manner to his mentor. He still kept his eyes upon the river, unable to face his mentor like this, feeling shame at the very thought. "I don't know… M-maybe I just wish I was as strong or s-something. I just don't know..."

Meta Knight supposed this was not entirely unusual or unexpected. He had been teaching his protégé all manners of things over many years, helping him grow and mature not only as a Star Warrior, but as an individual. He always seemed to know what was going on despite never having much contact with the locals. He had fought in the original wars involving Star Warriors and demonbeasts and here he was today, the longest-serving Star Warrior, still guiding, still drawing upon his immense experience. He was the single-most respected authority within the GSA and rightfully so; were it not for his meticulous planning in building the Halberd and training Kirby, Nightmare may well have destroyed them all by now. He had seen the admiration in his student's eyes many times, more so as they had forged a closer relationship over the years, driven not by necessity but out of choice.

Despite his own contributions, he did not want Kirby to see himself as somehow lesser than himself, as someone who could not see his own worth, considering the services he performed, considering the trials he had been placed in and had successfully passed, considering what he too had had to endure over the years despite his young age.

"I would not wish you to be entirely like me," Meta Knight chose his words carefully.

Kirby sniffed. "Wh-what do you mean?"

 _How to explain?_ "You know yourself that I am not seen as someone you can get close to. I am not an especially open person; I never have been. For the most part, I prefer solitude and quiet. I am not normally one for frivolities. I do not show my emotions easily and as a result, I am often seen as cold. I do not get involved with most people much unless I have to. To most people, I am a closed book and cannot be figured out. I know I am not exactly the most approachable person around. Such traits are hardly the most endearing. You are very much the opposite of me in these regards and as such, a warm person whom people are happy to interact with. You are content with your way of being as I am with my own. You are content aren't you?"

"Wha—? Um, you mean like talking with people and playing and stuff? I… guess so."

"Then do not change on my account if you are happy. Although if there was one aspect of myself that I wish for you to also be, it would be to have more patience."

"I am patient!" Kirby protested sounding a little more like his usual self.

His mentor gave a shrug, humouring the teen. "I'll believe you. Others might not. Especially when it comes to food. Remember the cake incident? I remember the cake incident." The end result had been a cake towering higher than the mayor's house. Even so, he doubted anyone got a slice when Kirby clapped his eyes on the masterpiece. He had been on cloud nine that day. He saw a crack in Kirby's current mood and hoped that his anxiety and self-doubt was finally beginning to lift.

"Meta…" his young charge said, questioning. "You… you're always more open with me."

"That is… different. You are my charge and I have watched you grow up."

Meta Knight could pick out many fond memories regarding Kirby growing up. He had seen Kirby grow from infancy to the cusp of awkward adulthood. He had seen Kirby destroy more than one eldritch abomination in his short lifetime. He interacted with Kirby more than anyone else. He was more than his mentor nowadays. And while they had obvious differences, there were many ways in which they were oddly similar, reminding Meta Knight, sometimes painfully so, of when he was a youth. Of course it was different.

"Well… couldn't you be a little more… open or something to everyone else? It… it wouldn't be so bad. I'm not expecting parties or the like but… you know."

"I won't make any promises," his mentor stated, holding up a hand. "I do not wish to unfairly raise your expectations. But… for your sake, I can try."

Kirby wondered if that would actually happen. Meta Knight was set in his ways; he knew he wasn't likely to change after years, centuries even, of acting the way he always had been. Still, it was nice to hear it anyway; perhaps it would relieve him a little of his burdens, though what he wanted and needed more than anything else was just a simple break. Watch some TV, laze about, bake some biscuits and cake, whatever. Just relax.

The thought still occurred to him though, that if he was an ordinary citizen, he wouldn't have to go through any of this. He would be at home, safe and sound. He would be able to live his life in peace.

Wouldn't he?

"What if I were normal?"

Meta Knight gave an amused smile. "How would you define normal exactly?"

"Well…" the pink puffball hesitated. "Like… not having all these powers. If I was like the Cappies or something. You know… normal."

His mentor gave a light-hearted chuckle that made the young Star Warrior glance his way. "I hardly think you would be satisfied with that, my friend. You have an adventurous spirit and I think you would end up very frustrated if you were not able to live out adventures to the full. Even if you started off as 'normal', in the first place, I daresay you would only then look towards someone like a Star Warrior and feel jealousy at their skills and how they are able to solve crises on their own."

"Mmm..."

"And besides, what makes you think there are people not jealous of you with you being such a unique individual? People come to you precisely because they know you have the capability to accomplish what others have little hope of doing themselves. You can be considered lucky for having all these powers that make you who you are, that give you this strength and allow you to do things that others can only dream of."

True enough; he had more powers than any of the other Star Warriors. He likely hadn't even discovered them all yet. They had no idea why this should be. Call it destiny, call it fortune; it had just worked out this way. It would be irresponsible of him if he did not put them to good use; Kirby knew that and he could accept that. It was all a matter of finding the best way to deal with his role in life.

"But I realise that they may also be a burden, a burden that you have had to endure almost all your life. I gather that you've felt strapped for time to do anything other than help others out and dealing with their problems and that you have developed high expectations of yourself to make sure things go right. And because of those expectations, you feel guilt when you can't quite match up to that. And when that happens, you do feel quite strongly about it and it affects you deeply."

The young Star Warrior nodded as he played with a blade of grass between his feet. "I've just felt… frustrated a lot recently since there's been so much going on and, you know, growing wings really early. I've felt like this for ages but I thought I could, you know, sort it out. It didn't seem too difficult at first. But I didn't want to worry you because, well… I didn't think it would be that important. You've been busy and stuff and I didn't want to cause any problems. I thought that you'd want me to deal with it myself and be strong… I didn't want to worry you..." To his surprise, he felt Meta Knight's glove on his back, a solid, comforting presence.

"Kirby," he spoke gently, his eyes shining blue. "It is practically my _job_ to worry about you. I worry about you while you're fighting, if you're in pain and if you're feeling sad. How can I not? I've been looking out for you for years. Still, I would be more worried if you did not come to me and tell me about these things. I care for you deeply."

Kirby regarded Meta Knight with surprise. "R-really?"

"Of course." Meta Knight looked at Kirby and yet seemed to be looking at something at a far distance that Kirby could not see. "Before you came along, I did not have anyone to care for truly for a very long time. I had fought in the wars, I was ready to give up my life for the cause of protecting others. Yet I survived while most of my companions perished. And Nightmare still existed. And I? What had I to show for my pains? Had I anyone to live for?"

Kirby didn't know what to say. It occurred to him that Meta Knight must have been very lonely for a long time even if he never said it out loud. He was a very private person still but maybe he didn't feel quite so lonely nowadays, surrounded by people and watching over Kirby.

"So... did I change that then?" Kirby asked, trying to understand. "Did I help?"

"You did, Kirby," said Meta Knight. "Very much. You're like a son to me."

Kirby's eyes widened. Meta Knight never said anything of such weight unless he absolutely meant it. That Meta Knight thought that way about him… it showed him he was not alone. He tried to speak but his throat seemed choked up.

"Do not try to be strong for my sake or anyone else's sake," he assured him. "We all have our bad days and times when we are feeling low. Staying silent doesn't mean being strong. You have to talk about these things. I want you to come to me in future for any issues you may have, alright?"

The young Star Warrior nodded. He felt an utter wave of relief, knowing that Meta Knight would always be there to care and watch out for him, whether in the shadows or by his side.

Then, before he could stop himself, before he could even think about what he was doing, he reached over to Meta Knight and pulled the warrior into a tight hug, feeling him start, hoping that he wouldn't mind. Unused to such displays of affection from anyone, Meta Knight's eyes turned pink at the first kind of warm contact he had in too many years. He briefly wondered if this would compromise their relationship of mentor and student. Then, feeling that it had been effectively compromised for years anyway and that it did not really matter, a little unsure of himself, Meta Knight tentatively returned the embrace. It was not something he would ever have considered doing normally but somehow... it felt right.

Kirby was the lighter and warmer part of himself. He found that the pink puffball had given his life shape and meaning. Hadn't he been occupied with the young Star Warrior ever since his arrival? He filled a part of himself which had remained empty for a long time, long after the wars had ended, with nothing else on the horizon but the desperate prospects of finding the new hope, one to defeat the evil presence that was Nightmare for good, one to head a new generation of Star Warriors.

"Thanks, Meta," Kirby mumbled.

Kirby had needed him but perhaps, Meta Knight thought with some amusement, he needed Kirby too.

* * *

Kirby woke up late the next morning and yawned heavily, too warm and comfortable to willingly get up. He and Meta Knight were due to go to the GSA headquarters later today and hold a conference on where the new demonbeasts were coming from. It was not Nightmare; it was a new aspect of the evil entity known as Dark Matter.

It would probably be down to the pink puffball to deliver the final blow to it at some point in the future. No-one else seemed to have his potential nor his skillset but that didn't mean that the inevitable battle would be easy. Far from it. But he knew that he would have Meta Knight's backing. He knew that the older Star Warriors would probably not see him as Meta Knight's equal just yet since his mentor had a vast number of years on him but he would get there eventually. He just needed to be patient and be accepting of himself.

He let his wings stretch out fully, enjoying the feel of them brushing against the bedsheets. He was almost fully used to their presence now even if it meant he made his bedsheets more tangled up than before. It would be great as well when he learned how to fly and fight at the same time; it would make him an even better Star Warrior. And he had managed to fly very well the other day hadn't he? It would take some time to learn, sure, but he would get there eventually. It must have taken Meta Knight some time to learn himself after all. He had to remind himself that his mentor wasn't always the accomplished person that he was now.

He decided that he would show his wings off later in town. He wasn't going to hide them: they were now an integral part of him. He liked the look of his wings, the feel of his wings. They were his wings; he was proud of them. And he could be proud of himself.

When he opened the door, he saw two large presents sitting just outside, one from the locals, the other from Dedede. Both contained cake topped with strawberries and a small, glittery card filled with many signatures from Cappies and Waddle Dees alike, and even an untidy scrawl from King Dedede.

Kirby smiled. Today was going to be a good day indeed.

* * *

 **Yep. I'm a sentimental soul. Stay in touch with your inner feelings, people. And thanks for reading; it's always appreciated. ^^**


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